Doctor Who and Philosophy
Page 48
Da Vinci, Leonardo
“The Daemons,”
“Dalek,”
Dalek Caan
“The Dalek Invasion of Earth,”
“The Dalek Masterplan,”
Dalek Sec
Daleks
“The Daleks,”
“Daleks in Manhattan,”
Dals
Darwin, Charles
Davies, Russell T
Davison, Peter (Fifth Doctor)
Davros
“The Deadly Assassin,”
Death Zone
Deci, Edward
Dennett, Daniel
Descartes, René
Deleuze, Gilles
Derrida, Jacques
“Destiny of the Daleks,”
“Doctor Who, The TV Movie,”
Doctor-Donna
“The Doctor’s Daughter,”
Donna Noble
“Doomsday,”
Douglas, Mary
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan
“Dragonfire,”
Duggan
Dupré, John A.
“Earthshock,”
Eccleston, Christopher (Ninth Doctor)
Eco, Umberto
“The Edge of Destruction,”
Eighth Doctor, see McGann, Paul
Einstein, Albert
Eldrad
Eleventh Doctor, see Smith, Matt
“The Eleventh Hour,”
Elizabeth “Liz” Shaw, Dr.
Elton Pope
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
empirical adequacy
“The Empty Child,”
“The End of Time,”
“The End of the World,”
“The Enemy of the World,”
essentialism
eternalism
“The Evil of the Daleks,”
“Evolution of the Daleks,”
“The Face of Evil,”
Faceless Ones, the
“The Faceless Ones,”
Family of Blood
“The Family of Blood,”
“Father’s Day,”
Field, Hartry
Fifth Doctor, see Davison, Peter
“The Fires of Pompeii,”
First Doctor, see Hartnell, William
First Law of Time
Fiske, John
“The Five Doctors,”
“Flesh and Stone,”
“Forest of the Dead,”
formalism
Foucault, Michel
four dimensionalism
Fourth Doctor, see Baker, Tom
Fraassen, Bas van
Frankfurt, Harry
Freud, Sigmund
“Frontier in Space,”
Gardner, Julie
Gelth
“Genesis of the Daleks,”
Gillat, Gary
Gilligan, Carol
“The Girl in the Fireplace,”
grandfather paradox
Grant, Hugh
“The Greatest Show in the Galaxy,”
“The Green Death,”
Grice, Paul
“Gridlock,”
growing block theory
Guardian, Black
White
“The Hand of Fear,”
“The Happiness Patrol,”
Harry
Hartnell, William (First Doctor)
Hath
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Heidegger, Martin
Hepburn, Ronald
“The Highlanders,”
Hilbert spaces
Hitchcock, Alfred
Hitler, Adolf
Hoagland, Sarah Lucia
Hobbes, Thomas
Holocaust
Horkheimer, Max
“Horror of Fang Rock,”
Houston, Barbara
Horwich, Paul
Howarth, Chris
“Human Nature,”
Hume, David
Hursthouse, Rosalind
Huxley, Aldous
Ian
“The Idiot’s Lantern,”
“The Impossible Planet,”
indispensability arguments
“Inferno,”
“The Invasion,”
“The Invasion of Time,”
“The Invisible Enemy,”
Ismael, Jenann
Jabe
Jack Harkness, Captain
Jackie Tyler
Jackson Lake
James, William
Jamie McCrimmon
Jenny
Jesus Christ
Jo Grant
Joan Redfern
John Smith
Jones, Harriet
“Journey’s End,”
Judoon
K-9
K-9 and Company
K’anpo Rinpoche
Kaleds
Kant, Immanuel
Kastrians
Kaufmann, Walter
Keeper of Traken
“The Keeper of Traken,”
Kennedy, John F.
“The Keys of Marinus,”
“Kinda,”
“The King’s Demons,”
Kleig, Eric
Kohlberg, Lawrence
Krillitane
Kripke, Saul
Krutikov, Georgii
Lambert, Verity
“Last of the Time Lords,”
law of non-contradiction
“The Lazarus Experiment,”
Le Verrier, Urban
Leela
Leibniz, Gottfried
Leibniz’s Law
“The Leisure Hive,”
Lethbridge-Stewart, Brigadier
Lewis, David
Locke, John
“Logopolis,”
Lost in Space
Lucy Saxon
Lumic, John
Lyons, Steve
MacIntyre, Alasdair
Mandragora Helix
Manning, Rita
Mara
“Marco Polo,”
“Mark of the Rani,”
Martha Jones
“The Masque of Mandragora,”
“The Massacre,”
Master, The
Matrix
Mavic Chen
“Mawdryn Undead,”
Mayden, Richard
Mayr, Ernst
McCoy, Sylvester (Seventh Doctor)
McGann, Paul (Eighth Doctor)
“Meglos,”
Mezzaline
Mickey Smith
“Midnight,”
Mill, John Stuart
“The Mind of Evil,”
“The Mind Robber,”
Moffat, Steven
Monoids
“The Moonbase,”
Morbius
Morrison, Grant
“The Mutants,”
Mutos
“The Mysterious Planet,”
“The Myth Makers,”
narrative identity theory
Nation, Terry
natural kinds
Nazis
Nehamas, Alexander
Nestene
“New Earth,”
Newman, Kim
Newtonian theory of gravity
“The Next Doctor,”
Nietzsche, Friedrich
nihilism
Ninth Doctor, see Eccleston, Christopher
Noddings, Nel
nominal kinds
Nozick, Robert
Nussbaum, Martha
Nyssa
Obama, Barack
Omega, Time Lord
Ood
Osirans
Paley, William
paradox machine
parallel universes
Parfit, Derek
Parsons, Paul
“The Parting of the Ways,”
“Partners in Crime,”
Pasteur, Louis
Penfield, Wilder
Peri
personal identity
Pertwee, Jon (Third Doctor)
Peters, Ted
Phineas Gage
“The Pirate Planet,”
“Planet of Evil,”
“Planet of Fire,”
“Planet of the Ood,”
“Planet of the Spiders,”
Plato
Platonism
platonism
Piper, Billie
“The Poison Sky,”
Polly
Pond, Amy (Amelia)
positivism
possible worlds
possible-world-actualists
“The Power of the Daleks,”
“The Power of Kroll,”
presentism
Prometheus
“Pyramids of Mars,”
Pythagoras
Quantum mechanics
Quine, W.V.
Racnoss
Ramachandran, V.S.
Rani
Rassilon
realism, scientific
Reid, Thomas
“The Reign of Terror,”
relativity theory
general
special
“Remembrance of the Daleks,”
“Resurrection of the Daleks,”
“Revelation of the Daleks,”
“Revenge of the Cybermen,”
“The Ribos Operation,”
Ricoeur, Paul
Rills
“Rise of the Cybermen,”
River Song, Professor
“Robot,”
Romana
“The Romans,”
Rorty, Richard
“Rose,”
Rose Tyler
Rosenkranz, Karl
Rowling, J.K.
“The Runaway Bride,”
Rutans
Ryan, Richard
Ryle, Gilbert
Sally Sparrow
Sarah Jane Adventures
Sarah Jane Smith
Sartre, Jean-Paul
“The Satan Pit,”
Sautoy, Marcus du
Scaroth
“School Reunion,”
Schopenhauer, Arthur
Scott, James C.
Sea Devils
“The Sea Devils,”
“The Seeds of Death,”
Second Doctor, see Troughton, Patrick
“The Seeds of Doom,”
Sellars, Wilfrid
Sensorites
Seventh Doctor, see McCoy, Sylvester
“The Shakespeare Code,”
Shakespeare, William
Shelley, Percy B.
Sheppard, Anne
Sherlock Holmes
Shindler, Nicola
“Silence in the Library,”
Silurians
“Silver Nemesis,”
Simm, John
The Simpsons
Singer, Peter
Sixth Doctor, see Baker, Colin
Skasis Paradigm
Slitheen
“Smith and Jones,”
Smith, Matt (Eleventh Doctor)
“Snakedance,”
Socrates
Solonians
“The Sontaran Experiment,”
“The Sontaran Stratagem,”
Sontarans
“The Sound of Drums,”
“The Space Museum,”
species concepts
speciesism
Star Trek
Star-Whale
Statten, Henry van
“The Stolen Earth,”
“The Sun Makers,”
Susan
Sutekh
“Survival,”
Sycorax
T-Mat
“The Talons of Weng-Chiang,”
TARDIS
Tegan
Temmosus
Tennant, David (Tenth Doctor)
Tenth Doctor, see Tennant, David
“The Tenth Planet,”
“Terror of the Autons,”
“Terror of the Zygons,”
Thals
Third Doctor, see Pertwee, Jon
“The Three Doctors,”
three-dimensional, object
space
time slice
time, external
loops
meddler
personal
travel
“Time and the Rani,”
“Time Crash,”
“Time-Flight,”
“The Time Meddler,”
“The Time Monster,”
“The Time Warrior,”
“Timelash,”
Toclafane
“The Tomb of the Cybermen,”
Torchwood
Troughton, Patrick (Second Doctor)
Tulloch, John
“Turn Left,”
“The Twin Dilemma,”
“The Two Doctors,”
“The Ultimate Foe,”
“Underworld,”
“An Unearthly Child,”
“The Unicorn and the Wasp,”
“The Unquiet Dead,”
utilitarianism
“Utopia,”
Valeyard
Van Inwagen, Peter
Vashta Nerada
“Vengeance on Varos,”
Vico, Giambattista
“The Visitation,”
Voltaire
“Voyage of the Damned,”
Walton, Kendall
“The War Games,”
“The War Machines,”
Watcher, The
“The Waters of Mars,”
“The Web of Fear,”
Weber, Max
Weeping Angels
Wells, H.G.
“The Wheel in Space,”
Whitaker, David
Wiltshire, Adrian
Wilfred Mott
Williams, Bernard
Wire, The
Wolfe, Tom
World War I
World War II
Wyndham, John
Yana, Professor
Zamyatin, Yevgeny
Zeno of Elea
Zoe Heriot
Zygons
1 William James, The Principles of Psychology, p. 330.
2 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, p. 340.
3 In Parfit’s example, the young man actually takes steps to frustrate that future self’s interests—in effect, treating his future self as a different person altogether. Reasons and Persons, p. 327.
4 Essays on the Intellectual and Active Powers of Man, p. 397.
5 Galen Strawson, “The Self,” p. 359.
6 Robert Nozick, p. 37.
7 Raymond Martin and John Barresi, “Introduction” in Personal Identity, p. 4.
8 This chapter was made possible by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Danish Research Council for the Humanities.
9 I think that this model of humans in time is forced on us by modern science, particularly Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Some philosophers disagree. For a good discussion of the issue, hunt down M.C. Rea, “Four Dimensionalism.”
10 If you’re a true Doctor Who geek, you have cried “No! Not the timelash!” at this point. If you haven’t, do it now. (See also “No! Not the mind probe!”)
11
12 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Chapter XXVII.
13 Essays on the Intellectual and Active Powers of Man, Volume 1, p. 397.
14 Philosophical Explanations.
15 Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons, pp. 199-201.
16 “Survival and Identity.”
17 How long does this take? Such things are hard to pin down. Different types of cells replace themselves at different rates, and brain cells are not replaced—once gone, they’re gone—but are maintained. All in all, however, over time, your body fully discards and replaces all of the material that makes it up.
18 See Plato, Phaedo and René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy .
19 Rita Carter, Mapping the Mind, pp. 25-26.
20 See V.S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brai
n, Chapter 9.
21 This is the title of Wolfe’s article as it appears in Forbes ASAP (December 2nd, 1996).
22 “Personal Identity,” in Personal Identity.
23 “The Self and the Future.”
24 For more on why the series followed this path, see James Chapman, Inside the TARDIS: The Worlds of Doctor Who.
25 This theory is inspired by David Lewis, “Survival and Identity.”
26 Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons, Doctor Who: The Completely Unofficial Encyclopedia, p. 11.
27 I would like to thank seven-year-old Isaac Williams for this critical observation.
28 I would also like to offer a huge thanks to Mark Trotman and Aled Williams for their help making sure the Doctor Who references were accurate. Any errors will be mine and not theirs.
29 There are at least three examples of abnormal temporal communication in “Blink”: 1. The Doctor’s message to Sally written on the wall; 2. Kathy Nightingale’s letter to Sally; and 3. The Doctor’s DVD Easter egg. For simplicity I’m just looking at the Easter egg here.
30 It is irrelevant why these famous philosophers have been given the chance to redesign the Cybermen. If it bothers you, assume the High Council of Gallifrey is somehow behind it. Or, if it floats your boat, the Meddling Monk, Omega, the White Guardian, a glowing yellow Rose, or a floating Tennant Doctor.
31 Thomas Hobbes, a professional tutor, lived from 1588 to 1679. This means that as an eleven-year-old in 1599, he might have attended one of Shakepeare’s plays with David Tennant’s Doctor and Martha, only to be terrorized by the invasion of the Carrionites during the events of “The Shakespeare Code” (2007). It’s also possible that he later played cards with William Hartnell’s Doctor, Ben, and Polly in a Cornish pub during “The Smugglers” (1966). It’s even possible that in 1666, at age seventy-eight, he joined the angry mob chasing Peter Davison’s Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, and Adric through the woods in “The Visitation” (1982).
32 A view also held by Sutekh the Destroyer in “Pyramids of Mars” (1975).
33 For a different interpretation, see Chapter 18 in this volume.
34 John Stuart Mill lived from 1806 to 1873. If he’d been traveling in the north of England as a young man, he might have stepped on a mine in the forest and been turned into a tree during “The Mark of the Rani” (1985). In 1866, at the age of sixty, he might have dropped by to see Professor Maxtible socially, and so bumped into Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria during “The Evil of the Daleks” (1967). If he’d gone to visit Cardiff in 1869 at age sixty-three, he might have run screaming out of a theater, pursued by ghosts, Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor, and Rose during “The Unquiet Dead” (2005). If Mill had boarded the Mary Celeste in 1872 at the age of sixty-seven, he would have seen William Hartnell’s Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki run by in “The Chase” (1965), just before the ship is overrun by Daleks with the loss of all life still onboard. Lucky for him he didn’t get on.