The Twilight Zone and Philosophy

A Dangerous Dimension to Visit

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Edited by Heather L. Rivera and Alexander E. Hooke

Type: Essays
Subject: One Film > The Twilight Zone (TV Series)
Keywords: fantasy, science fiction, philosophy
Publishing date: 2018
Publisher: Open Court
Collection: Popular Culture and Philosophy
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 264 pages
6 x 8 ¾ inches (15 x 22.5 cm)

ISBN

978-0-8126-9989-0

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Book Presentation:
In The Twilight Zone and Philosophy, philosophers probe into the meaning of the classic TV series, The Twilight Zone. Some of the chapters look at single episodes of the show, while others analyze several or many episodes. Though acknowledging the spinoffs and reboots, the volume concentrates heavily on the classic 1959–1964 series.

Among the questions raised and answered are:

● What’s the meaning of personal identity in The Twilight Zone? (“Number 12 Looks Just Like You,” “Person or Persons Unknown”).

● As the distinction between person and machine becomes less clear, how do we handle our intimacy with machines? (A question posed in the very first episode of The Twilight Zone, “The Lonely”).

● Why do our beliefs always become uncertain in The Twilight Zone? (“Where Is Everybody?”)

● Just where is the Twilight Zone? (Sometimes it’s a supernatural realm but sometimes it’s the everyday world of reality.)

● What does the background music of The Twilight Zone teach us about dreams and imagination?

● Is it better to lose the war than to be damned? (“Still Valley”)

● How far should we trust those benevolent aliens? (“To Serve Man”)

● Where’s the harm in media addiction? (“Time Enough at Last”)

● Is there something objective about beauty? (“The Eye of the Beholder”)

● Have we already been conquered? (“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”)

● Are there hidden costs to knowing more about other people? (“A Penny for Your Thoughts”)

About the authors:
Heather L. Rivera Works in the History Department at Louisiana State University Shreveport and is an independent philosophical writer who has interests in metaphysics, the Problem of Evil, and philosophy of mind. She is co-editor (with Alexander E. Hooke) of The Twilight Zone and Philosophy (Open Court, 2019). She has written numerous philosophy articles and guest lectured at Suffolk County Community College on such topics as "Cindy Sherman's Film Stills," "Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard," and "Inception relating to Rene Descartes's Meditation on First Philosophy." She has given lectures annually on Evil, Pop Culture, and Philosophy at the Long Island Philosophical Society Conferences At Suffolk County Community College, Malloy College and St. John's University as an invited lecturer.

See the publisher website: Open Court

See The Twilight Zone (TV Series) (1959–1964) on IMDB ...

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