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Dune and Philosophy
Minds, Monads, and Muad'Dib
Kevin S. Decker (Edited by), K Decker (Author), William Irwin (Series edited by)
9781119841395, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 14 November 2022
272 pages
22.6 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.431 kg
Explore the universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune in all its philosophical richness “He who controls the spice controls the universe.” Frank Herbert’s Dune saga is the epic story of Paul, son of Duke Leto Atreides, and heir to the massive fortune promised by the desert planet Arrakis and its vast reservoirs of a drug called “spice.” To control the spice, Paul and his mother Jessica, a devotee of the pseudo-religious Bene Gesserit order, must find their place in the culture of the desert-dwelling Fremen of Arrakis. Paul must contend with both the devious rival House Harkonnen and the gargantuan desert sandworms—the source of the spice. The future of the Imperium depends upon one young man who will need to lead a new jihad to control the universe. Dune and Philosophy recruits 23 philosophers to sift wisdom from Frank Herbert’s Duniverse, including the first of an expected series of films following Paul “Muad’Dib” Atreides and his descendants, captivatingly brought to the big screen by Denis Villeneuve in 2021. Part of the New Wave of science fiction of the 60s and 70s, Dune is characterized by literary experimentation with shifting styles, differing narrative points of view, and with the “psychedelic” culture of the period. In Dune, the long-term strategies and intricate plots of warring Great Houses are driven not just by Heighliner spacecraft and lasguns, but also by mind-expanding drugs, psychic powers, dystopian themes, race memories, and martial arts allowing control of the mind and the body. Substantial yet accessible chapters address philosophical questions including: Tens of thousands of years into an intergalactic future, can humans endure or will we sacrifice what is most important in our humanity for power, glory, religion and of course, the control of the spice? Dune and Philosophy sets an intellectual course through sand and stars to find out.
Contibutors: Navigators, Mentats, Fremen, and Bene Gesserit viii Introduction: "He Who Controls the Spice Controls the Universe" xiv A Brief Dune Series Timeline xviii Songs of Muad'Dib: Culture and Religion in Dune 1 1 Liberating Women's Bodies: Feminist Philosophy and the Bene Gesserit of Dune 3 2 What Do Zendaya's Blue Eyes Really Mean? 14 3 The Golden Path and Multicultural Meanings of Life 24 4 Messiahs, Jihads, and God Emperors: Should Humanity Just Give Up Religion? 35 5 (Re)defining Masculinity and Femininity in Villeneuve's Dune 46 Arrakis Awakening: Science and Ecology in Dune 55 6 Spiritual Realm Adaptation: Arrakeen Spice, Terrestrial Psychedelics, and Technique 57 7 Thinking Like a Desert: Environmental Philosophy and Dune 67 8 Humans, Machines, and an Ethics for Technology in Dune 76 The Wisdom of Muad'Dib: Mind, Memory, and Interpretation in Dune 87 9 "Thou Shalt Make a Human Mind in the Likeness of a Machine": Imitation, Thinking Machines, and Mentats 89 10 Herbert's Gholas: Mystical Legends and Scientific Inspiration 99 11 Psychological Expanses of Dune: Indigenous Philosophy, Americana, and Existentialism 108 12 Thatched Cottages at Cordeville: Hegel, Heidegger, and the Death of Art in Dune 119 The Lens of Time: Freedom, History, and Evil in Dune 131 13 Should the Bene Gesserit Be in Charge? 133 14 Prisoners of Prophecy: Freedom and Foreknowledge in the Dune Series 144 15 Time versus History: A Conflict Central to Herbert's Dune 153 The Humanity of Muad'Dib: Morality and Ethics in Dune 163 16 Secher Nbiw and the Child's Right to an Open Future 165 17 The Spice of Life: Hedonism and Nozick in the Dune Universe 173 18 "Less Than a God, More Than a Man": Is It Morally Wrong to Make a Kwisatz Haderach? 179 19 That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Shai-Hulud: Self-overcoming in Nietzsche, Hinduism, and Dune 189 Lessons of the Great Revolt: Politics and War in Dune 199 20 The God Emperor and the Tyrant: The Political Theology of Frank Herbert's Dune Saga 201 21 Lessons from Islamic Philosophy on the Politics of Paul Atreides 211 22 Why Settle for Hobbes's Sovereign When You Could Have a God Emperor? 221 23 The Mind at War: Conflict and Cognition in Frank Herbert's Dune 229 Index 239
Kevin S. Decker
Kara Kennedy
Edwardo Pérez
Ethan Mills
Greg Littmann
Edwardo Pérez
A.M. Houot
Zach Vereb
Zachary Pirtle
Tomi Kokkonen, Ilmari Hirvonen, and Matti Mäkikangas
Jennifer Mundale
Matthew Crippen
Kevin S. Decker
Greg Littmann
William Peden
Aaron Irvin
Kenneth R. Pike
Luke Hillman
Alexandru Dragomir
Steve Bein
James R.M. Wakefield
Galipcan Altinkaya and Mehmet Kuyurtar
R.S. Leiby
Sam Forsythe
Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]
