Batman and Philosophy Audiobook By Mark D. White, Robert Arp cover art

Batman and Philosophy

The Dark Knight of the Soul

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Batman and Philosophy

By: Mark D. White, Robert Arp
Narrated by: Mark D. White
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Why doesn't Batman just kill the Joker and end everyone's misery? Can we hold the Joker morally responsible for his actions? Is Batman better than Superman? If everyone followed Batman's example, would Gotham be a better place? What is the Tao of the Bat?

Batman is one of the most complex characters ever to appear in comic books, graphic novels, and on the big screen. What philosophical trials does this superhero confront in order to keep Gotham safe? Combing through 70 years of comic books, television shows, and movies, Batman and Philosophy explores how the Dark Knight grapples with ethical conundrums, moral responsibility, his identity crisis, the moral weight he carries to avenge his murdered parents, and much more. How does this caped crusader measure up against the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Lao Tzu?

©2008 Mark D. White (P)2009 Audible, Inc. Philosophy
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Creative look at the Dark Knight via many lenses and schools of thought while at the same time being very entertaining

Thought-provoking Journey

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It was very easy to follow the philosophy when compared to comics I'm already very familiar with.

The multiple references to the comics, with specific scenes read out.

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I loved the book. The author has really done his research on thr different scenarios that helped my understanding of each chapter.

great and fun book

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He lost me when he automatically assumed the joker is an insane character and shouldn’t be morally held responsible for his actions. Joker seems insane but his darker iterations mostly illustrate that he is a man who wishes to do wicked things to turn people as dark and as twisted as possible. In fact in the Dark Knight he states several times that he is not crazy. He’s very morally aware of what he’s doing.

Boring and Twisted Reasoning to justify immorality.

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Not for the casual fan. You better REALLY be into philosophy and not mind having terms/definitions repeated over and over again ad nauseum. Whereas a book on the psychology of Bruce Wayne/Batman might explain and explore why he does the things he does, this book is going to tell you why past philosophers--most of whom have been dead for 100 years or more (seriously, are there no contemporary philosophers to point to?)--why past philosophers would say Bruce does these things. The debates go nowhere and are often contradictory, and I found myself skipping forward halfway through many of the chapters hoping that the next one would be more engaging.

The narrator is absolutely fine, nothing wrong with his performance. But unless you are a true student of philosophy and endlessly fascinated by philosophical lectures, I recommend picking another volume. I have a few on the psychology of Batman, and found them fascinating. But this one was definitely not.

Repetitive, repetitive, repetitive

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