Buffy the Vampire Slayer is full of cryptic signs and hidden meaning, but what does creator Joss Whedon’s symbolism really mean? Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy answers this question and much more as it explores fictional Sunnydale, California.

This book answers the questions that you’ve been wondering about, and even the ones you might not have thought of. Is Buffy truly a Kierkegaardian knight of faith? Do Faith's corruption and return to the good life demonstrate Platonic eudaimonism? Or do they illustrate the flaws in Nietzsche's superman concept? What does the show's treatment of vampires, demons, and other entities say about ethical attitudes toward nonhumans? Perhaps most cryptic is how the overt religious symbolism found in the series is reconciled with Whedon’s professed atheism. As Peter Ludlow, author of Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias says of this book, “the result is spectacular – brain candy, deep philosophical reflection, and pedagogical tool.”

Editor James B. South explores these questions and more in this collection of essays that show the reader what Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Kierkegaard thought of Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Spike. For the avid Buffy fan, or for anyone who is interested in how popular culture interprets and uses philosophical imagery, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy is the perfect gift!

An Open Court Pop Culture and Philosophy book
Paperback