CFP: Supernatural and Philosophy

Edited by Galen Foresman and Robert Arp

The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series

To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact the Series Editor, William Irwin, at [email protected]

If you have comments or criticisms for the series, please read “Fancy Taking a Pop?” at

http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/55564/fancy-taking-pop.pdf

Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader. Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.

Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following concerning the television show Supernatural:

• Science, the natural, and the supernatural; 
• Supervenience and Supernatural; 
• Empiricism and the supernatural; 
• The continual allure of legends and folk lore; 
• Critical thinking, fallacious reasoning, and the supernatural; 
• Abductive reasoning utilized by Sam and Dean; 
• The ontology of monsters; 
• Christian themes in Supernatural; 
• Supernatural and supra-natural;
• “Ghostfacers,” reflexivity, and possible worlds; 
• The definition and nature of evil; 
• “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester” and the problem of evil;
• Angels, moral, amoral or immoral?; 
• Nietzsche and Lucifer’s claim that “God is dead”; 
• Supernatural, the Western, and masculinity; 
• Is there a duty to family?; “Tall Tales” and Descartes’ evil genius; 
• Witchcraft and modern-day witches; Demonology and Satanism; 
• The nature of time and the possibility of time travel; 
• Are there good Monsters?; 
• Deontological rights-based vs. utilitarian common-good-based themes in Supernatural; 
• Obligatory vs. supererogatory actions; 
• The moral perspectives of the various characters; 
• Character formation and virtue ethical themes; 
• An analysis of the nature of murder vs. other forms of killing; 
• Types of love and/or friendship in the show; 
• Vampires and the hedonistic paradox; 
• “Route 666” and the fine line between just punishment and revenge; 
• “In My Time of Dying” and near-death experiences; “Playthings” and assisted suicide; 
• “Sin City” and the morality of gambling and prostitution;
• “Folsom Prison Blues” and the courts in the American justice system; 
• “It’s a Terrible Life” and corporate greed; 
• Why shows like Supernatural entertain the rational, scientific mind.

Submission Guidelines:

1. Submission deadline for abstracts (c. 150 words) and CV(s): August 1, 2012.
2. Notification of acceptance of abstracts: August 13, 2012
3. Submission deadline for drafts of papers: October 15, 2012.

Kindly submit by e-mail to Galen Foresman at: [email protected]

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