Doctor Who and Philosophy
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GREG LITTMANN is a reddish-brown fungus, possibly of extraterrestrial origin, that grows under rocks and inside water pipes. Its main interests are metaphysics, philosophy of logic, philosophy of mind, ethics, and pulsating softly, releasing its spores into the air. For reasons that Earth’s scientists have been unable to determine, it has published in the philosophy of logic and has written philosophy and popular culture chapters for Doctor Who and Philosophy, Dune and Philosophy, Final Fantasy and Philosophy, Terminator and Philosophy, and The Onion and Philosophy. It is employed as an Assistant Professor by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where it teaches Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Media Ethics, and Critical Thinking, all in a sibilant whisper. UNIT recommends that if you encounter any Greg Littmann, it should be completely incinerated, but whatever you do, never look directly at it!
DEBORAH PLESS recently completed her degree in Social Philosophy at Hamilton College. She is now working towards her Master’s degree at New York Film Academy. Every day, she gets better and better at not blinking.
ADAM RIGGIO is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in Canada, writing his dissertation on environmental philosophy and contemporary European thought. He has been watching Doctor Who since 1987 at the age of four, and the Doctor himself has been his role model since that time as well. He owns two Tom Baker inspired winter scarves, a Christopher Eccleston leather jacket, has anticipated Matt Smith’s hairstyle for the past five years, and on rainy days carries his umbrella like Sylvester McCoy. He actually does need glasses to see, but they also make him look almost as clever as David Tennant and Peter Davison. And for the difficult moral growth this essay describes, the Doctor is a model as well.
MICHELLE SAINT has recently completed her PhD in philosophy at Arizona State University, and currently acting as guest editor for the upcoming volume of The Midwest Studies in Philosophy entitled “Film and the Emotions.” Her area of specialization is the philosophy of fiction, which means she spends a lot of time thinking about things that don’t exist in many fascinating ways. Her dissertation is on the nature of our emotional involvement with fictional characters, specifically how it is possible for us to feel pity, fear, worry, or uplifted from untrue stories about unreal people. Her favorite Doctor is David Tennant, her favorite episode is either “Blink” or “Turn Left,” and she is a great fan of The Face of Boe.
DONNA MARIE SMITH works in the next best thing to the TARDIS—a library! Her library card is like the key that opens up the Doctor’s “magical time machine,” allowing her to travel through space and time via the pages of a book or the bits and bytes of cyberspace. Throughout her time on Earth, she has collected more college degrees than companions: a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English and one in Journalism, as well as a Master’s of Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland. She has also dabbled in philosophy, gaining membership in The National Philosophy Honor Society (Phi Sigma Tau) as an undergraduate and has taken a fascinating graduate-level course in the history and philosophy of science and technology. In her spare time, she writes book reviews for Library Journal, spends time with her friends and family, and travels to “real” places like Alaska and Historic Route 66. She also has been seen waiting patiently on the beach of Därlig Ulv Stranden, Norway—otherwise known as Bad Wolf Bay—for the Doctor to bring her a David Tennant clone, so she, like Rose, can live happily ever after.
PAULA SMITHKA is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her research interests are in philosophy of science, in particular, philosophy of biology, and social and political philosophy. She has her PhD and MA from Tulane University and a BA in philosophy and a BS in biology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Paula’s co-edited Community, Diversity, and Difference (2002) with Alison Bailey. She’s always loved science fiction. Growing up without cable television meant that she was Doctor Who deprived during her formative years; however, she did have Star Trek. Because she’s a relative neophyte with respect to Doctor Who, namely via the new series with Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, she’s had much catching up to do. And, since Court owns the majority of the Doctor Who series, he aided and abetted the developing Who-passion, spurring on her research of the previous Doctors. Now, she really envies British children who had a Dalek Halloween costume! Her favorite Doctor is David Tennant; and like all Doctor Who fans, she mourns the loss her favorite Doctor, but is impressed by the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith.
PATRICK STOKES is currently a Marie Curie Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, England, and has previously held teaching and research positions in Australia, the US, and Denmark. He’s the author of Kierkegaard’s Mirrors (2010) as well as several journal articles and book chapters, and is interested in philosophical questions about selfhood, moral psychology, mortality and subjectivity. His earliest memory of Doctor Who is hiding behind the couch in fear every time the Daleks came on, but eventually he got over that. Well, sort of.
J.J. SYLVIA, IV recently completed his MA in philosophy at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he researched and wrote about the epistemological and ethical issues involved with the medium of television. Many of his students have told him that the constant questioning involved in studying philosophy depresses them, but he simply reassures them that, as Sally Sparrow says, “Sad is happy for deep people.”
MARK WARDECKER is a librarian at Dickinson College and an occasional writer of mystery and horror fiction and nonfiction. He has been a fan of Doctor Who since childhood, when PBS first began airing episodes in the US in the 1970s, and wishes for your sake that he could write half as well as his favorite script editor, Robert Holmes.
ED WEBB teaches Political Science, International Studies, and Middle East Studies at Dickinson College. His particular interests include authoritarianism, the politics of education, and applications of digital technology to teaching and learning. He’s also “committed” poetry. The Sea Devils were the first Doctor Who monsters to terrify him and they still have a special place in his heart. Like the Fourth Doctor, he owns a very, very long scarf and is fond of jelly babies.
CHRIS WILLMOTT is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Leicester, and a National Teaching Fellow. Originally a molecular biologist by training. Chris studied the mode of action of, and bacterial resistance to, the antibiotic “Cipro” for his doctoral thesis. During the past ten years he has been increasingly involved in the teaching of bioethics to undergraduate students. His work in this field has included the establishment of www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com, a web-based repository of materials for teaching about the science and ethics of developments in biomedicine, with particular emphasis on the use of multimedia resources and case studies.
PETER WORLEY’s earliest memories include running around the playground with a long scarf and a blazer pretending to be a strange hybrid of a Pertwee Doctor and a Baker Doctor and crying for days at the passing of the Baker era. He also considers the Whoian maverick virtues of independence and thoughtfulness the starting point for his career as a consultant philosopher working in primary schools in South East London. Peter started teaching philosophy to primary school children in 2001 and after developing his own program of philosophy in schools founded The Philosophy Shop CIC in 2007 in order to bring philosophy more widely into the community. The Philosophy Shop now trains philosophers in how to deliver philosophy in schools, and how to get children philosophizing, as well as running adult philosophy groups and training teachers in developing thinking skills in children. For more information visit
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