One Way Out Andor and Democratic Violence By Richard Neve At the beginning of both Rogue One and Andor, our titular hero Cassian Andor, murders someone in cold blood. In Andor he kills two corporate security guards to avoid being arrested. The first may have been an accident but the second is definitely intentional. In…
Call for Abstracts Star Wars and Philosophy Strikes Back Edited by Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series Please circulate and post widely. Apologies for cross posting. To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact the Series Editor, William Irwin, at williamirwin@kings.edu Abstracts and subsequent essays…
John Williams and The Philosophical Power of Music By Edwardo Pérez Star Wars movies used to be released three years apart (1977, 1980, 1983 and then 1999, 2002, and 2005). This time was valuable – for the audience (who, like me, could fantasize about the next adventure while playing with the various toy ships…
A Philosophical Review of The Last Jedi Jason Eberl and Kevin Decker philosophize among the stars. WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS Read the full review at Philosophy Now. As all observers of a particular galaxy far, far away know, there has recently been another awakening in the Force: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. We reviewed Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Issue 115 of Philosophy…
The Last Jedi Nihilism, Übermenschen, and a Rey of Hope by Edwardo Pérez The Force Awakens ended beautifully, with Rey and Luke Skywalker staring at each other, standing atop an island mountain, with a lightsaber between them – held out by Rey in a gesture of respect and hope. It’s such a significant moment in…
Paradox of The Force III Rogue Redemption Edwardo Pérez Why do we need to be redeemed? What’s the point of redemption, atonement, or salvation? Why do things need to be made right? And, is one act enough to redeem a lifetime of doing wrong? Most religions incorporate redemption into the precepts of their respective faiths…
The Paradox of The Force II The Quest for Revenge in Star Wars Edwardo Pérez What if Obi-Wan had saved Anakin? Wouldn’t that have been the Jedi thing to do? It seemed cruel (un-Jedi-like) for Obi-Wan to leave Anakin as he lay on the ground in flames, struggling to cling to whatever life was left…
The Paradox of The Force The Quest for Balance in Star Wars Edwardo Pérez There is a disturbance in The Force. For Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope, it’s the destruction of Alderaan. For the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back, it’s the emergence of Luke Skywalker as a Jedi. In Revenge of the Sith,…
Rogue One and a Philosophy of Hope By Matthew William Brake After enduring years of crappy prequels, Star Wars fans have now received not one, but two good Star Wars movies since Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm. While I liked The Force Awakens, the Honest Trailer for the movie voices all of my criticisms of that…
Read what Kevin Decker and Jason Eberl, the editors of The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy, have to say about The Force Awakens at the Daily Nous. Click here to read all about it.
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 