Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of Steel Do? -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction: It's a Bird, It's a Plane … It's Philosophy! -- Part One The Big Blue Boy Scout: Ethics, Judgment, and Reason -- 1 Moral Judgment: The Power That Makes Superman Human -- The Trinity of Moral Philosophy -- But Like Superpowers, Ethics Only Gets You So Far -- Tragic Dilemma in Your Pocket (Universe) -- I'm Walkin', Yes Indeed -- Superman Did What? -- What Makes Superman Human -- Notes -- 2 Action Comics!: Superman and Practical Reason -- It's Practically Reasonable -- More Powerful Than a Locomotive -- We Could Be Heroes … -- Superman vs. the Calculator -- Faster Than a Speeding Bullet -- The Virtues of Being Super -- So Whom Does He Save? -- Notes -- 3 Can the Man of Tomorrow Be the Journalist of Today? -- The Face and the Voice -- A Reporter's Story -- The Reporter of Steel -- Superman Confidential: Seek Truth and Report It -- The Big Forget: Act Independently -- Wicked Business! Minimize Harm -- Fatal Flaw? -- Notes -- 4 Could Superman Have Joined the Third Reich?: The Importance and Shortcomings of Moral Upbringing -- … Or Not -- The Moral Education of a Superman -- Superman: Son of the Third Reich -- In the End, Hitler Still Loses -- Notes -- Part Two Truth, Justice, and the American Way: What Do They Mean? -- 5 Clark Kent Is Superman!: The Ethics of Secrecy -- What Is the Secret? -- Superman for President! -- The Secret Revealed! -- Opening the Shirt -- Letting in Lois -- In the Vault -- Notes -- 6 Superman and Justice -- It's All About Personal Liberty -- Truth, Libertarian Justice, and the American Way -- Great Rawls! -- Behind the (Lead-Lined) Veil of Ignorance -- Occupy Metropolis -- Superman's Greatest Foe? -- Notes -- 7 Is Superman an American Icon? -- Is Superman Giving Up on the American Way?.

My Country, Right or Wrong-But Mostly Right -- Can Superman Be a Citizen of the World? -- Cosmopolitanism Then and Now -- The Appearance of Impropriety -- Act Locally, Think Globally -- Notes -- Part Three The Will to Superpower: Nietzsche, the Übermensch, and Existentialism -- 8 Rediscovering Nietzsche's Übermensch in Superman as a Heroic Ideal -- Truth, Justice, and the Nietzschean Way -- Putting the Über into the Übermensch -- The Nietzschean Superman -- Superman vs. Clark Kent -- S Is for Savior -- Kneel Before Zod! -- Perhaps … Lex Luthor? -- Nietzschean Übermensch, American Christ, or Both? -- Notes -- 9 Superman or Last Man: The Ethics of Superpower -- Survival of the Weakest -- Introducing Superman-Whether We Need Him or Not -- Waiting for Superman -- Resignation Superman -- Singer vs. Nietzsche -- It Ain't Easy Being Blue -- Is He Worth It? -- Notes -- 10 Superman: From Anti-Christ to Christ-Type -- Übermensch as Anti-Christ -- Lex Luthor: Super-Man? -- Jesus Without the Christ -- Moral Illumination -- Trinitarian Movie Mythos -- Is Superman Christ or a Christ-Type? -- Seduction of the Innocent? -- Notes -- 11 Superman Must Be Destroyed!: Lex Luthor as Existentialist Anti-Hero -- A Man Who Writes His Own Script -- An Iconoclast -- One Man Is an Island -- The Anti-Hero of Faith -- Existentialists Gone Wild! -- Notes -- Part Four The Ultimate Hero: What Do We Expect from Superman? -- 12 Superman's Revelation: The Problem of Violence in Kingdom Come -- The Never-Ending Battle -- Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World -- Kingdom Come -- Superman's Dilemma -- Good Violence vs. Bad Violence -- Sacred Violence -- Caution: Mythology at Work -- The Truth About Truth and Justice -- Notes -- 13 A World Without a Clark Kent? -- Goodbye, Clark? -- Golden Age Limits -- The Humanity of Martha Kent -- Jor-El's Higher Calling.

Lex Luthor, Villain or Hero? -- Man and Superman -- Notes -- 14 The Weight of the World: How Much Is Superman Morally Responsible For? -- Know Your Role! -- Superhindsight -- There's Demanding and Then There's Demanding -- It Ain't Right, I Tell Ya, It Ain't Right -- The Big Blue Boy Scout -- Superman Meets His Match: Supererogatory! -- The Weight of the World -- Notes -- Part Five Superman and Humanity: A Match Made on Krypton? -- 15 Superman and Man: What a Kryptonian Can Teach Us About Humanity -- Mystery of the Bizarro World! -- Strange Visitor to Earth-P! -- Civilizing Earth-P -- The Super-Men of Earth-O! -- Humanity's Greatest Power! -- Notes -- 16 Can the Man of Steel Feel Our Pain?: Sympathy and Superman -- Growing Up a Super Boy -- Men Are from Earth, Supermen Are from Krypton -- Just Another Kid from Smallville -- There's Pain and Then There's Pain -- I Am Curious (Superman) -- Kneel Before Zod -- What the "S" Really Means -- Sympathy for the Hero -- Notes -- 17 World's Finest Philosophers: Superman and Batman on Human Nature -- Batman, Hobbes, and the War of All Against All -- Batman and the Sovereign -- The Most Perfect Line -- You Matter-To Me -- Securing Recognition -- Batman or Superman? Hobbes or Hegel? -- Notes -- Part Six Of Superman and Superminds: Who Is Superman, Anyway? -- 18 "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's … Clark Kent?": Superman and the Problem of Identity -- The Question-Begger, the Greatest Villain in Philosophy -- Is It My Super-Body? -- Memories of You, Superman -- Hole-y Personality Superman! -- Would the Real Superman Please Stand Up! -- So Let's Give Lois a Break! -- Notes -- 19 Superman Family Resemblance -- The Eternal Superman -- The Challenge of the Supermen -- Ludwig Wittgenstein's Family Values -- But Families Also Disagree a Lot -- Having Fun With Big Blue -- Notes.

20 Why Superman Should Not Be Able to Read Minds -- The Mind of Superman -- Great Caesar's Ghost: The Problem of Other Minds! -- Solving the Kryptonian Knot -- What Are You Thinking? -- Zombie Superman: Even Worse Than Bizarro -- Too Close for Comfort -- Luthor's Razor -- Forget It, Supes -- Notes -- Contributors: Trapped in the Philosophy Zone -- Index: From Brainiac's Files.