Star Wars and Philosophy
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intentions
integrity
intelligence. See also rationality, reason
intolerance
intuition
in vitro fertilization
Iraq
Jabba the Hutt
James, William
Jamilla, Queen
Jawas
Jedi Knights
Jedi Code
Jedi Council
“Jedi mind tricks,”
Jedi Temple
Jesus Christ
Jidai geki
Jinn, Qui-Gon
Jones, Dr. Indiana
Jujitsu
Julius Caesar
just cause
justice
social justice
Just War Theory
Kamino
Kant, Immanuel
Karate Kid, The (film)
karma
Kasdan, Lawrence
Kashyyk
Kendo
Kenobi, Obi-Wan
Ki-Adi-Mundi
King, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
knowledge
koans
Kung-fu
Lama Su
language
Lao-tzu
Lars, Beru
Lars, Owen
laws,
moral
physical
Leibniz, Gottfried
libertarianism
liberty. See freedom
lies
life
lightsabers
Locke, John
logic
Logos
Lone Ranger, the
Lord of the Rings, The
love
romantic
unconditional
loyalty
Lucas, George
“luminous beings,”
Machiavelli, Niccolò
machines
magic
majority rule
Malastare
Manichees
manipulation
Marpa the Translator
martial arts
master-slave dialectic (Hegel)
matter
Maul, Darth
meaning
Medici family
memories
mental states
mercenaries
metaphysics
midi-chlorians
Milarepa
Military Creation Act
military training, problems with
Millennium Falcon
Mill, John Stuart
mind
conditioning of
mind control
Miyagi, Mr.
moisture farming
Mona Lisa
morality. See also ethics, good, evil, virtue, vice
moral agency
moral ambiguity
moral conflict
moral cowardice
moral responsibility
Moravec, Hans
Mos Eisley
Mos Espa
Motti, Admiral
mynocks
mysticism
myths
“myth of the metals,” (Plato)
Naboo
blockade of
Naboo Royal Starship
Nass, Boss
naturalism
nature
Aristotelian conception of
hierarchy in
Stoic conception of
versus nurture
necessity
Neimodians. See also Trade Federation
New Hope, A, (Episode IV)
nexu
Nicholson, Jack
Nietzsche, Friedrich
nobility
“no-mind” mindfulness
Odyssey
Organa, Leia
organisms
versus artifacts
organs, artificial
otherness
pacifism, absolute
padawans
pain
Palpatine
as Darth Sidious
as Emperor
as Supreme Chancellor
Parable of the House on Fire
Parmenides
passions
passivity
peace
persons
conditions for personhood
Phantom Menace, The (Episode I)
philosopher-kings
physicalism
Pilate, Pontius
Pisistratus
Plato
Republic
Symposium
pleasure
pod racing
political philosophy
power
pragmatism
pragmatic faith beliefs
predestination
“present-at-hand,” (Heidegger)
Presocratics
pride
Princess Leia. See Organa, Leia
probability
process
progress
properties
prophecy of the Chosen One
propositions, future-contingent
prosthetics
psychokinesis
Puritanism
purposiveness
Pygmalion, legend of
quantum physics
R2-D2
racism
rancor
rationality. See also reason
as calculation
as deliberation
as problem solving
“ready-to-hand,” (Heidegger)
realism, philosophical
realism, political
reality
reason. See also rationality
deductive
moral
reasons, truth-conducive
Rebel Alliance
recognition
struggle for
redemption
reek
reflectivity, moral
relativism, moral
religion
eastern
history of
philosophy of
religious believers
replicants (Blade Runner)
reproductive procedures
Republic, Old
republicanism
Return of the Jedi (Episode VI)
revenge
Revenge of the Sith (Episode III)
rights
inter-species
robots
Rolston, Holmes III
Rome, ancient
Roshi, Taizan Maezumi
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Russell, Bertrand
sail barge
Sakyamuni, Gautama (Buddha)
salvation
samurai
Sand People
satori
scarcity, problem of
science
science fiction
“Sea-battle tomorrow,” example (Aristotle)
self
self-consciousness
self-interest;—collective
self-knowledge;—subject-object relation in
selfishness
Senate, Galactic
Seneca
Separatists
Shakespeare, William
Shaolin Temple
Shariputra
Shintoism
Sidious, Darth. See Palpatine
Sifo-Dyas, Master
sin
Singer, Peter
Sith Lords
skepticism
Skywalker, Anakin . See also Vader, Darth
Skywalker, Luke
Skywalker, Shmi
Slave One
slavery
social relationships
Socrates
and the “Noble Lie,”
Sohei
Soho, Takuan
Solo, Han
Solon
Sony’s mechanical dog
soul
tripartite (Aristotle)
species
speciesism
Spaceballs (film)
Spirit (Hegel)se
e also Absolute Spirit
spirits
“standing reserve,”
Stoicism
Stoic sage
stormtroopers, Imperial
Strauss, Leo
substance
divine
primary (Aristotle)
suffering
Sumeria
supernatural
Swift, Jonathan
symbiosis
synthetics (Aliens)
tao
Taoism
Tao Te Ching
Tarkin, Grand Moff
Tarot
Tatooine
Tauntauns
technology
as art and craft
telekinesis
telos
Templars
terrorism
Tesshu
Thales
theology
thinking
threats, manufactured
Threepio. See C-3PO
TIE fighters, Imperial
time
as measure of motion
future
past
present
timeliness, virtue of
Tin Woodsman
Tolkien, J.R.R.
tools
torture
Trade Federation
tragedy
Greek
moral
training, Jedi
traits, genetically determined
Transcendentalism, American
Tricksters
trust
truth
factual
Tusken Raiders. See Sand People
Tyrannus, Darth. See Dooku, Count
tyranny
Ueshiba, Morihei
understanding
spiritual
“Unhappy Conscience” (Hegel)
uniformity, principle of
unity
utilitarianism
Vader, Darth . See also Anakin Skywalker
value
absolute
instrumental
intrinsic
Veatch, Henry
vice
violence
criteria for permissible
virtue
virtue ethics
voting
virtues, Stoic
Walkers, Imperial. See AT-AT Walkers
wampa
war
civil
as inherently bad
moral justification of
Watto
Wesell, Zam
Wicket the Ewok
will
freedom of
“will to power” (Nietzsche)
Williams, Bernard
Williams, John
Windu, Mace
wisdom
Wizard of Oz, The
womp rats
Wookiees
Wordsworth, William
Wu Wei
WWE Smackdown
X-wing fighters
Yavin Four
yin and yang
Yoda
Yoga
Yoshiaki
younglings
zazen
Zen Buddhism
Zeno of Citium
1 Although known to only a few, even Chewbacca voices this sentiment in the Boba Fett-driven cartoon segment of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.
2 Actually, this is a wonder entertained only by Marxists studying Das Kapital. And so we doubt that it applies to many of you.
3 This question was much entertained at cocktail parties on Alderaan right up until the tragic and unexpected events of A New Hope.
4 The fact that George Lucas recasts what Star Wars is really about with the three prequel films—from the mythic hero-journey of Luke Skywalker to the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker—is evidence of Lucas’s own fascination with issues of fate and moral responsibility.
5 See Linda Zagzebski, The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 33-34.
6 See Aquinas, Summa Theologiae: A Concise Translation, edited and translated by Timothy McDermott (Allen: Christian Classics, 1989), p. 23; Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann, “Eternity,” Journal of Philosophy 78 (1981): pp. 429-457.
7 Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, p. 41.
8 Augustine, On Free Choice of the Will, translated by Anna S. Benjamin and L.H. Hackstaff (New York: Macmillan, 1964), Book III, §4.
9 Note that free-will libertarians are not the same as political libertarians.
10 No one is completely free, because we’re all subject to the laws of gravity and inertia, the impulse to satisfy our hunger and thirst, the drive to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and so on.
11 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1695), edited by Peter H. Nidditch (Oxford: Clarendon, 1975), Book II, Chapter 21, §10.
12 Augustine, Free Choice, Book I, §1.
13 Ibid., Book I, §4. Augustine is setting quite a high standard for morality here.
14 Interview in “The Return of Darth Vader” documentary included on the bonus disc of the original Star Wars Trilogy DVD release (2004).
15 Augustine, Free Choice, Book I, §16. For more on the origin of evil according to Augustine and others, see Chapter 6 in this volume.
16 Ibid., Book III, §17.
17 I’m most grateful to Jennifer Vines, Kevin Decker, Kevin Timpe, Greg Bassham, and Bill Irwin for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this chapter.
18 Check the internet for The Stoic Voice Journal, The Stoic Registry, The Stoic Foundation, The Stoic Place, and the International Stoic Forum.
19 See Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998).
20 Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale is one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the U.S. Navy. He credited Stoicism for his survival while a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He was Ross Perot’s Vice Presidential running mate in 1992.
21 Dr. Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is inspired by a Stoic approach to emotional problems.
22 As opposed to the hologram in The Empire Strikes Back.
23 In Attack of the Clones Yoda, hobbling forward on his cane, uses the Force to defend himself from Count Dooku’s telekinetic attacks. Yoda and Dooku, his former padawan, duel with lightsabers and Yoda protects his wounded comrades Obi-Wan and Anakin.
24 Discourses I.6.19-21; translation adapted from The Discourses of Epictetus, The Handbook, Fragments, edited by C. Gill (London: Dent, 1995), p. 17.
25 On Anger I.1.2, in Seneca: Moral and Political Essays, translated by J.M. Cooper and J.F. Procopé (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 17.
26 Yoda, in contrast, denies that the Dark Side of the Force is stronger. He tells Luke it is quicker, easier, and more seductive than the Light Side. Greg Bucher has suggested to me that the partisans of the Light and the Dark Sides of the Force speak at cross-purposes, neither understanding the motivations of the other. In the end the Light Side prevails because they have better people in their ranks, not because the Light Side is superior in power to the Dark Side. The vision of the empire which Vader and the Emperor champion, while neither desirable nor good, is not inherently unworkable.
27 Vader’s admission underscores the Stoic idea that it takes a lifelong commitment to stand a chance to become good. Vader has grown too old to reverse his evil course, apparently.
28 When Obi-Wan expresses his concern that the talented Anakin Skywalker is becoming arrogant, Yoda concurs: “Yes, yes, a flaw more and more common among Jedi. Too sure of themselves they are, even the older, more experienced ones.”
29 Note that Obi-Wan and Yoda do not die suffering.
30 I thank Gregory S. Bucher, Susan T. Bart, and Scott Rubarth for their excellent, generous comments on this paper. I also thank the editors and the series editor for their suggestions.
31 See Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Face (New York: Princeton University Press, 1949).
32
Laurent Bouzereau, Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays (New York: Ballantine, 1997), p. 180.
33 Ibid., p. 36.
34 D.T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture (New York: Bollingen, 1959), p. 107.
35 Ibid., p. 111.
36 John Stevens, The Sword of No Sword (Boston: Shambhala, 1984), p. 26.
37 Ibid., p.18.
38 Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 39. Egoism is often mistakenly associated with the views of Adam Smith, who does argue that a healthy dose of self-interest is useful for a capitalist economy, but who also thinks it can lead to gross injustices. See Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976), I.ii.2 and V.i.f.50, and The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976).
39 John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism. Second edition, edited by George Sher (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2001), p. 7.
40 Jeremy Bentham, A Fragment on Government, edited by J.H. Burns and H.L.A. Hart (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 3.
41 E.M. Forster, “What I Believe,” in Two Cheers for Democracy (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1951), p. 68.
42 These restrictions usually take the form of individual rights, which utilitarians think can be grounded in what creates the greatest happiness in the long run. See John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, edited by Elizabeth Rapaport (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1978), especially Chapter II.
43 Bernard Williams, “A Critique of Utilitarianism,” in J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism: For and Against (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp. 98-100.
44 For more on the Sith’s and Jedi’s use of deception and truth, see Chapter 16 in this volume.
45 David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), III.1.ii.1.
46 Mill, Utilitarianism, p. 18.
47 For further discussion of the value of love and attachment from a Hegelian philosophical perspective, see Chapter 12 in this volume
48 Immanuel Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by Lewis White Beck (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1959), p. 47, Ak. 429.