Doctor Who and Philosophy
Page 1
Table of Contents
Popular Culture and Philosophy
Title Page
We’ve Been Abducted by the Doctor, and We Love It!
EPISODE 1 - I’m the Doctor. Who?
Chapter 1 - Just as I Was Getting to Know Me
The Most Puzzling Puzzle
Self and Memory
Meeting Yourself
Deep Further Facts?
Person-Stages, Animals, and Narratives
A Dead End?
Chapter 2 - Who Is the Doctor? For That Matter, Who Are You?
Are You Your Body?
Worms in the Space-Time Continuum
The Problem of People with No Bodies
The Problem of People Who Materialize Out of Nowhere
The Problem of Possession
Are You Your Memories?
Are You Your Personality?
Doctor Who and the Ultimate Answer
Chapter 3 - Who’s Who on Gallifrey
Who’s in a Name?
What’s the Story?
What’s in Regeneration?
What’s Continuity Without Persistence?
Where’s the Soul?
What Do You Have in Mind?
Who Is Jackson Lake?
What’s in Teleportation?
Who’s Your Closest Continuer?
What’s Persistence Without Identity?
Chapter 4 - Is the Doctor Still the Doctor—Am I Still Me?
Who Cares?
I’m a Soul Man
Remember the Good Ole Days?
The Causal Nexus
The Whole Show
I Think, Therefore I Exist . . . I Think
EPISODE 2 - Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey . . . Stuff
Chapter 5 - Timey-Wimey Stuff
Vitruvian Man in the City of Death
Time Loops and Paradoxes
The Paradox Machine
The TARDIS Inside and Out
The Paradox of the Time Meddler
Turn Left
Actual Actualists
Alternative Time
We Wouldn’t Be Here Without Time Travel
Chapter 6 - Could the Daleks Stop the Pyramids Being Built?
There’s No Time Like the Present
What’s So Special about Now?
The Growing Block Theory—A Middle Way
To Be in the Past or Not to Be in the Past—What Is the Question?
The Daleks Can Stop the Pyramids from Being Built!
Chapter 7 - The Doctor on Reversed Causation and Closed Causal Chains
Anatomy of a Time Traveler
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again!
Diagnosis
Prognosis
Chapter 8 - Logically, What Would a Cyberman Do?
We Will Survive
We are Human-Point-2. Every Citizen will Receive a Free Upgrade.
Feelings? I Do Not Understand that Word
Locate and Destroy All Animal Organisms!
If Thomas Hobbes Had Designed the Cybermen
Have You No Emotions, Sir?
There Are Some Corners of the Universe which Have Bred the Most Terrible Things
If John Stuart Mill Had Designed the Cybermen
You Will Become Like Us
The Cybermen Won’t Advance. You’ll Just Stop.
If David Hume Had Designed the Cybermen
This Is the Age of Steel
Chapter 9 - Ain’t We All the Same? Underneath, Ain’t We All Kin?
What Are Species?
Finding the Human Factor
The Death of Essentialism ... and Its Resurrection
Species Concepts and the Reality of Species
They May Not Be Human, but Could Daleks Be People Too?
Chapter 10 - To Be Is Not to Be Perceived?
It’s What’s in the Dark
Stay in the Light
Count the Shadows
Is There Truth in the Shadows?
Don’t Blink
Doomed to Be Perceived
Chapter 11 - Could There Be Carrionites?
Enter the Carrionites
Interesting Isn’t It? Allons-y, Alonso . . .
Time and Space, but No Relative Dimensions
Not So Much Timey-Wimey, as Teeny-Weeny Stuff
Aww, . . . Poor Monster. Should We Feel Sorry for the Carrionites?
EPISODE 3 - It’s a Different Morality. Get Used to It, or Go Home!
Chapter 12 - The Ethics of the Last of the Time Lords
Just This Once! Everybody Lives!
Have You Ever Thought What It’s Like ... to Be Exiles?
“Howzat!” Prometheus Is a Fast Bowler
Chapter 13 - Empathy, Ethics, and Wonder
Paths Not Taken
Our Doctor and Ethics
Ethics and Wonder
Wonder and the Doctor’s Companions
A Better Way of Living Your Life
Chapter 14 - Doctor, Who Cares?
The Sanctimonious Doctor
On the Necessity of Companions
Sad Is Happy for Deep People
The Fury of the Time Lord
Toward Caring
Chapter 15 - Why the Doctor and Rose Tyler Kant Be Together
Groundwork of a Time Lord’s Morals
A Rose by Any Other Name Would Still Be Virtuous
Love in the Time of Daleks
Critique of Gallifreyan Reason
Journal of Impossible Things
Parting of the Ways
Allons-y into the Starry Heavens
Chapter 16 - Should the Daleks Be Exterminated?
The Dilemma
Only One Race Can Survive
A New Beginning
Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!
Scarred Relics of Ourselves
Which of You Will Do It?
The Genocidal Doctor
The Dalek Within
Chapter 17 - Why the Daleks Will Never Beat Us
What on Earth Is Speciesism?
Why the Daleks Are Speciesist
Emotions Matter
Is There Any Hope for the Daleks?
Why the Doctor Is So Special
Chapter 18 - Cybermen Evil? I Don’t Think So!
The Ethics of Cybermen
The Geneses of the Cybermen
Is There a Doctor in the House Who Can Help?
Two New Cyber-Approaches: Enlightenment and a Good Ad-Campaign
EPISODE 4 - Human Beings, You’re Amazing. Apart from That, You’re Completely Mad
Chapter 19 - Regeneration and Resurrection
Not Impossible ... Just a Bit Unlikely
I Was Dead Too Long This Time
A Dandy and a Clown
It Will Shake Up the Brain Cells a Little
But He’s Not You
Here They Are ... Ready to Outsit Eternity
Chapter 20 - And, Before I Go ...
You’re My Replacements
A New Body ...
Absolutely the Same Man
I Remember! I Am the Doctor!
Time Will Tell
Love and Doctors
Chapter 21 - What the World Needs Is ... a Doctor
That’s What You Do. You’re the Doctor. You Save People.
I’ll Tell You What I Can See.... Humans. Brilliant Humans
I Thought It Was Just the Doctor that We Needed, but It’s Both of You
Chapter 22 - Overcoming Evil, and Spite, and Resentment, and Revenge
Time Lord, All-Too-Time Lord
Resentment Consumes the Master
The Doctor’s Overcoming
How Can a Degenerate Do All This?
Life: A Celebration
; Chapter 23 - Schopenhauer’s Master
His Mind Is My Mind
The Master’s Will
Back to the Carnival
Escape to Doctor Who
Chapter 24 - Sympathy for the Master
My Lord, Master ...
The Struggle unto Death, and Its Irony
My Name Is ‘the Master’
The Master as a World-Historical Individual
The Master: The Slave of the Time-Lord Cunning of Reason
Chapter 25 - Is the Doctor the Destroyer of Worlds?
I Used to Have So Much Mercy
I Am Giving You a Choice
She’s My Plus One
I Am the Bad Wolf
EPISODE 5 - Brilliant! Fantastic! Molto Bene!
Chapter 26 - The Horror of the Weeping Angels
Carroll and Horror
Fearing Angels
Disgust and Blinking
One More Thing, Don’t Blink!
Chapter 27 - Beauty Is Not in the Eye-Stalk of the Beholder
Earth Versus Skaro
The Embodiment of Evil
Katy Manning and a Discreetly-Placed Sink Plunger
Inferno
Daleks in Moscow
A Beautiful Destiny
Chapter 28 - Monadology of the Time Lords
What Makes the Doctor “the Doctor”?
The Laws of Time and the Best of All Possible Worlds
Dimensional Transcendentalism and the Principle of Indiscernibles
The Matrix, Perception, and Pre-Established Harmony
The Incompossible Valeyard
The Odd Thought of Doctor Who
EPISODE 6 - Lots of Planets Have a North!
Chapter 29 - The Evil of the Daleks
Evil, Rationality, and Dehumanization
The War, the Bomb, and the Survivors
The Mutants: Possible Futures: Evolution and Degeneration
Bunker Mentality or Love?
Chapter 30 - The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, Sponsored by TARDIS
A Romantic Wanderer
The History of Ordinary Events
Preparing Britain and the World for Doctor Who
The Doctor, Defender of British Dreams
Chapter 31 - Doctor Who as Philosopher and Myth Maker
Tigella: Battlefield in the War between Myth and Science
Terra Alpha and Varos
Manussa and the Power of Mythical Thought
The Doctor at the Walls of Troy
The Mythologizing of Science
The Doctor Dances
Chapter 32 - Philosophy, Fantastic!
For the Love of Philosophy and Doctor Who
Doctor Who as Philosophy
Ah, Doctor. We Know You by Reputation
Would You Like a Jelly Baby?
The What, When, and Who of Doctor Who
The High Council of Gallifrey
The Matrix of Time Lord Bibliographic Sources
Logically Organized Index, for the Cyberman and Dalek in All of Us
Copyright Page
Popular Culture and Philosophy ®
Series Editor: George A. Reisch
VOLUME 1
Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000)
VOLUME 2
The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer (2001)
VOLUME 3
The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002)
VOLUME 4
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003)
VOLUME 5
The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (2003)
VOLUME 6
Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter’s Box (2004)
VOLUME 9
Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004)
VOLUME 12
Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005)
VOLUME 13
Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005)
VOLUME 17
Bob Dylan and Philosophy: It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Thinking) (2006)
VOLUME 18
Harley-Davidson and Philosophy: Full-Throttle Aristotle (2006)
VOLUME 19
Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006)
VOLUME 23
James Bond and Philosophy: Questions Are Forever (2006)
VOLUME 24
Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time (2006)
VOLUME 25
The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Can’t Be Thunk (2006)
VOLUME 26
South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007) Edited by Richard Hanley
VOLUME 28
The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight (2007) Edited by Steven Gimbel
VOLUME 30
Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007) Edited by George A. Reisch
VOLUME 31
Johnny Cash and Philosophy: The Burning Ring of Truth (2008) Edited by John Huss and David Werther
VOLUME 32
Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy: Darkness on the Edge of Truth (2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Doug Anderson
VOLUME 33
Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? (2008) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin
VOLUME 34
iPod and Philosophy: iCon of an ePoch (2008) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
VOLUME 35
Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008) Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker
VOLUME 36
The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008) Edited by Luke Cuddy
VOLUME 37
The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West (2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Phillip S. Seng
VOLUME 38
Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive (2009) Edited by Brandon W. Forbes and George A. Reisch
VOLUME 39
Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life (2009) Edited by Erin McKenna and Scott L. Pratt
VOLUME 40
Transformers and Philosophy (2009) Edited by John Shook and Liz Stillwaggon Swan
VOLUME 41
Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) (2009) Edited by Aaron Allen Schiller
VOLUME 42
Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009) Edited by Ben Dyer
VOLUME 43
The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison
VOLUME 44
Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed (2009) Edited by Scott Calef
VOLUME 45
World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King (2009) Edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger
Volume 46
Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
Volume 47
Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin
VOLUME 48
The Red Sox and Philosophy: Green Monster Meditations (2010) Edited by Michael Macomber
VOLUME 49
Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad
VOLUME 50
Facebook and Philosophy: What’s on Your Mind? (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
VOLUME 51
Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (2010) Edited by Ted Richards
VOLUME 52
Manga and Philosophy: Fullmetal Metaphysician (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Adam Barkman
VOLUME 53
; Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness (2010) Edited by Graham Priest and Damon Young
VOLUME 54
The Onion and Philosophy: Fake News Story True, Alleges Indignant Area Professor (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye
VOLUME 55
Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka
IN PREPARATION:
Rush and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman
Dexter and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison
Halo and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Luke Cuddy
Dune and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Jeffery Nicholas
Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Josef Steiff
Inception and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein
Breaking Bad and Philosophy (2011) Edited by David R. Koepsell
Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Mark Ralkowski
We’ve Been Abducted by the Doctor, and We Love It!
The End of Time and the Beginning of Time
On November 22nd 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, closing an important chapter of American history and culture. The very next day, across the pond, Doctor Who premiered in Britain, opening a new chapter of British culture and history that would eventually conquer the entire world.