Mark D. White 
Superman and Philosophy [PDF ebook] 
What Would the Man of Steel Do?

Introduction: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane …
It’s Philosophy! 1
Part One The Big Blue Boy Scout: Ethics, Judgment, and Reason
3
1 Moral Judgment: The Power That Makes Superman Human 5
Mark D. White
2 Action Comics! Superman and Practical Reason 16
Brian Feltham
3 Can the Man of Tomorrow Be the Journalist of Today? 26
Jason Southworth and Ruth Tallman
4 Could Superman Have Joined the Third Reich? The Importance and
Shortcomings of Moral Upbringing 37
Robert Sharp
Part Two Truth, Justice, and the American Way: What Do They
Mean? 47
5 Clark Kent Is Superman! The Ethics of Secrecy 49
Daniel P. Malloy
6 Superman and Justice 61
Christopher Robichaud
7 Is Superman an American Icon? 71
Andrew Terjesen
Part Three The Will to Superpower: Nietzsche, the
Übermensch, and Existentialism 83
8 Rediscovering Nietzsche’s Übermensch in Superman as
a Heroic Ideal 85
Arno Bogaerts
9 Superman or Last Man: The Ethics of Superpower 101
David Gadon
10 Superman: From Anti-Christ to Christ-Type 111
Adam Barkman
11 Superman Must Be Destroyed! Lex Luthor as Existentialist
Anti-Hero 121
Sarah K. Donovan and Nicholas Richardson
Part Four The Ultimate Hero: What Do We Expect from Superman?
131
12 Superman’s Revelation: The Problem of Violence in
Kingdom Come 133
David Hatfield
13 A World Without a Clark Kent? 145
Randall M. Jensen
14 The Weight of the World: How Much Is Superman Morally
Responsible For? 157
Audrey L. Anton
Part Five Superman and Humanity: A Match Made on Krypton?
169
15 Superman and Man: What a Kryptonian Can Teach Us About
Humanity 171
Leonard Finkelman
16 Can the Man of Steel Feel Our Pain? Sympathy and Superman
181
Andrew Terjesen
17 World’s Finest Philosophers: Superman and Batman on
Human Nature 194
Carsten Fogh Nielsen
Part Six Of Superman and Superminds: Who Is Superman, Anyway?
205
18 ‘It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s
… Clark Kent?’ Superman and the Problem of Identity
207
Nicolas Michaud
19 Superman Family Resemblance 217
Dennis Knepp
20 Why Superman Should Not Be Able to Read Minds 225
Mahesh Ananth
Contributors: Trapped in the Philosophy Zone 237
Index: From Brainiac’s Files 243

Mark D. White is chair of the Department of Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, where he teaches courses in economics, philosophy, and law. He has edited and coedited many books in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, including Batman and Philosophy, Watchmen and Philosophy, Iron Man and Philosophy, and The Avengers and Philosophy.
William Irwin is Professor of Philosophy at King’s College in Pennsylvania. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles including House and Philosophy, Batman and Philosophy, and Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy.