True Blood and Philosophy

TRUEBLOOD and Philosophy Does God hate fangs? Is Sam still Sam when he turns into a collie? Is coming out of the coffin the same as coming out of the closet? Are all vampires created evil? Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies, telepaths True Blood has it all. In a world where supernatural creatures coexist with human beings, Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton wrestle with powerful desires while facing complex issues concerning sex, romance, bigotry, violence, death, and immortality. Now, True Blood and Philosophy calls on the minds of some of history s great thinkers to perform some philosophical bloodletting on this thought-provoking series. From the metaphysics of mind reading to Maryann Forrester s cult of Dionysus, from vampire politics to the nature of personal identity, and from contemporary feminism to the rights of nonhuman species, True Blood and Philosophy mines the thinking of philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and John Rawls to enlighten us on the intriguing themes that surround this supernatural world. You ll find no shortage of juicy metaphysical morsels to sink your teeth into! To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit andphilosophy.com

TRUEBLOOD and PhilosophyDoes God hate fangs?Is Sam still Sam when he turns into a collie?Is coming out of the coffin the same as coming out of the closet?Are all vampires created evil?Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies, telepaths--True Blood has it all. In a world where supernatural creatures coexist with human beings, Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton wrestle with powerful desires while facing complex issues concerning sex, romance, bigotry, violence, death, and immortality. Now, True Blood and Philosophy calls on the minds of some of history's great thinkers to perform some philosophical bloodletting on this thought-provoking series. From the metaphysics of mind reading to Maryann Forrester's cult of Dionysus, from vampire politics to the nature of personal identity, and from contemporary feminism to the rights of nonhuman species, True Blood and Philosophy mines the thinking of philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and John Rawls to enlighten us on the intriguing themes that surround this supernatural world. You'll find no shortage of juicy metaphysical morsels to sink your teeth into!To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit andphilosophy.com

Acknowledgments: For the "Supes" We Just Can't Live Without ixIntroduction: "If a Tree Falls in the Woods, It's Still a Tree--Ain't It?" 1Part One "I Used to Hate Vampires, Until I Got To Know One": Vampire-human Ethics1 To Turn or Not to Turn: The Ethics of Making Vampires 7Christopher Robichaud2 Dressing Up and Playing Human: Vampire Assimilation in the Human Playground 19Jennifer Culver3 Pets, Cattle, and Higher Life Forms on True Blood 33Ariadne Blayde and George A. DunnPart Two "life-challenged Individuals": The Politics of Being Dead4 Signed in Blood: Rights and the Vampire-Human Social Contract 51Joseph J. Foy5 "Honey, If We Can't Kill People, What's the Point of Being a Vampire?": Can Vampires Be Good Citizens? 65William M. Curtis6 Un-True Blood: The Politics of Artificiality 79Bruce A. McClellandPart Three "their Very Blood Is Seductive": Eros, Sexuality, and Gender7 Coming Out of the Coffin and Coming Out of the Closet 93Patricia Brace and Robert Arp8 "I Am Sookie, Hear Me Roar!": Sookie Stackhouse and Feminist Ambivalence 109Lillian E. Craton and Kathryn E. Jonell9 Sookie, Sigmund, and the Edible Complex 123Ron HirschbeinPart Four "i Am Actually Older Than Your Jesus": Natural, Supernatural, and Divine10 Let the Bon Temps Roll: Sacrifice, Scapegoats, and Good Times 139Kevin J. Corn and George A. Dunn11 Are Vampires Unnatural? 157Andrew Terjesen and Jenny Terjesen12 Does God Hate Fangs? 175Adam BarkmanPart Five "our Existence Is Insanity": the Metaphysics of Supernatural Beings13 A Vampire's Heart Has Its Reasons That Scientific Naturalism Can't Understand 187Susan Peppers-Bates and Joshua Rust14 Keeping Secrets from Sookie 203Fred Curry15 Vampires, Werewolves, and Shapeshifters: The More They Change, the More They Stay the Same 215Sarah GrubbContributors: "I Don't Know Who You Think You Are, but Before the Night Is Through ." 229Index: Sookie's Words of the Day 237