Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Codename: GhostPhacers 1

Part One Of Monsters and Morals 5

1 Are Monsters Members of the Moral Community? 7
Nathan Stout

2 Aristotle’s Metaphysics of Monsters and Why We Love Supernatural 16
Galen A. Foresman and Francis Tobienne, Jr.

3 Hunters, Warriors, Monsters 26
Shannon B. Ford

4 Team Free Will: Something Worth Fighting For 37
Devon Fitzgerald Ralston and Carey F. Applegate

Part Two Life, Liberty, and the Apocalypse 47

5 What the Hell Is Going On? 49
Galen A. Foresman

6 Try Hell, It’s a Democracy and the Weather Is Warm 62
Dena Hurst

7 Hunting the American Dream: Why Marx Would Think It’s a Terrible Life 74
Jillian L. Canode

8 Mothers, Lovers, and Other Monsters: The Women of Supernatural 83
Patricia Brace

9 Night of the Living Dead Demons and a Life Worth Living 95
John Edgar Browning

Part Three Evil by Design 109

10 Dean Winchester and the Supernatural Problem of Evil 111
Daniel Haas

11 Angels and Atheists 125
Fredrick Curry

12 Oh God, You Devil 139
Danilo Chaib

Part Four It’s Supernatural 151

13 Naturally Supernatural 153
James Blackmon with Galen A. Foresman

14 Masculinity and Supernatural Love 169
Stacey Goguen

15 Naturalizing Supernatural 179
Joseph L. Graves, Jr.

Contributors: Bona Fide, Card Carrying Wisdom Lovers and GhostPhacers 189

Index 195

About the Author

Galen A. Foresman is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he teaches ethics and critical thinking. He is the author of “Why Batman Is Better than Superman” in Batman and Philosophy (Wiley, 2008) and "What’s Wrong with Camping?" in Halo and Philosophy (2011).

William Irwin is Professor of Philosophy at King’s College. 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 Superman and Philosophy, Black Sabbath and Philosophy, and Spider-Man and Philosophy.

Reviews

“Saying that, what is covered should be enough here for the ‘Supernatural’ fan to think about. Don’t get spooked.”  (SFCrowsnest.org.uk, 1 December 2013) “All in all, through reading this book, I realized philosophical and religious examinations are a lot more fun when they’re done side by side with the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester rather than traditional sources.  The correlations make for a very good read. It will certainly change the way we fans see episodes both past and future.  Thanks to pop culture, philosophy just isn’t for scholars anymore.”  (The Winchester Family Business, 22 October 2013)