WATCHMEN AND PHILOSOPHY: A Rorschach Test	1
	CONTENTS	7
	ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	11
	INTRODUCTION: A Rorschach Test	13
	Part I: THE POLITICS OF POWER: WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?	15
	Chapter 1: THE SUPERMAN EXISTS, AND HE’S AMERICAN: MORALITY IN THE FACE OF ABSOLUTE POWER	17
	The Son of a Watchmaker	17
	Rubble and the Human Race	18
	Emotions: They’re Not Just for Breakfast Anymore	20
	Sure, It’s the Right Thing to Do—Now Tell Me Why I Should Do It	22
	From the Personal to the Political	25
	The Endless Ethical Enigmas of Dr. Manhattan (There Oughta Be a Book...)	28
	Chapter 2: CAN WE STEER THIS RUDDERLESS WORLD? KANT, RORSCHACH, RETRIBUTIVISM, AND HONOR	31
	Evil Must Be Punished: Retributivism, Basically	33
	Kant and Rorschach on Respect and Dignity	35
	Order and Value in a Morally Blank World	37
	Honor Is Like the Hawk...	39
	This Last Entry	41
	Chapter 3: SUPER-VIGILANTES AND THE KEENE ACT	45
	I’m Holding Out for a Hero...or a State	46
	Working against or outside the State: Rorschach and Veidt	48
	Working for the Man	51
	Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid	54
	Who Can Watch the Watchmen?	56
	Chapter 4: SUPERHEROES AND SUPERMEN: FINDING NIETZSCHE’S ÜBERMENSCH IN WATCHMEN	59
	Nietzsche’s Super, Man	59
	God Is Dead, and He’s American	60
	What’s So Über about the Übermensch?	61
	The Nietzsche Method	63
	Who Watches the Übermensch?	65
	And Then There Were Three...	67
	Do We Have a Winner?	70
	Part II: THE VEIDT PLAN: WATCHMEN AND ETHICS	73
	Chapter 5: MEANS, ENDS, AND THE CRITIQUE OF PURE SUPERHEROES	75
	“‘In the end'? Nothing ends, Adrian, nothing ever ends.”	77
	The Utilitarians Strike Back	80
	“Even in the face of Armageddon I shall not compromise in this.”	82
	“Who watches the watchmen?”	86
	Chapter 6: THE VIRTUES OF NITE OWL’S POTBELLY	91
	Watchmen and Virtue? (Hurm...)	92
	Rorschach, Meet...Forrest Gump?	93
	Nite Owl in the Middle	94
	Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Watchmen	97
	Are We Wasting Our Time Discussing Character and Virtues?	98
	Dan, Dan, He’s Our Man!	101
	Chapter 7: RORSCHACH: WHEN TELLING THE TRUTH IS WRONG	103
	Rorschach’s Death	103
	Lying for the Sake of Humanity	104
	But Is Lying Really That Big a Deal?	106
	Utilitarianism: A Justification for Lying?	108
	Judging Rorschach	110
	Part III: THE METAPHYSICS OF DR. MANHATTAN	113
	Chapter 8: DR. MANHATTAN, I PRESUME?	115
	Am I Who I Am?	115
	Selves, Bundles, and Memories	116
	I Am Not My Body	119
	If I’m My Mind, How Many of Me Are There?	121
	Superheroes and Super-Identity	125
	Chapter 9: A TIMELY ENCOUNTER: DR. MANHATTAN AND HENRI BERGSON	127
	“His watch isn’t the only thing that’s broken.”	127
	Bergson Saves Manhattan	129
	Active vs. Passive Time	131
	Manhattan Standard Time	132
	Everyday Time Travel	134
	Chapter 10: FREE WILL AND FOREKNOWLEDGE: DOES JON REALLY KNOW WHAT LAURIE WILL DO NEXT, AND CAN SHE DO OTHERWISE?	137
	He’s Got Foreknowledge, and He’s Not Afraid to Use It	137
	Alternatives, Shmalternatives	138
	God, I Hope It’s Not Fatal	139
	The Naked Watchmaker	141
	The World According to Big Blue	143
	Why Jon Is Wrong	143
	Tripping on Tachyons	145
	Do as I Say, Not as I Blue	146
	Chapter 11: I’M JUST A PUPPET WHO CAN SEE THE STRINGS: DR. MANHATTAN AS A STOIC SAGE	149
	The Modern Misunderstanding of Stoicism	149
	“I Read Atoms”: Seeing Nature for What It Is	152
	Dr. Manhattan Does Get Upset, So He’s Not Really a Stoic, Right?	154
	Stoicism and Fate: A Puppet Comes to Terms with the Strings	157
	Thermodynamic Miracles and the “Good Emotions”	158
	Stoicism without a Rational Lawgiver?	160
	“Relax and See the Whole Continuum”	163
	Part IV: THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER’S COMIC BOOK	167
	Chapter 12: “WHY DON’T YOU GO READ A BOOK OR SOMETHING?” WATCHMEN AS LITERATURE	169
	Is Watchmen Literature?	169
	Whom Do We Ask?	170
	“Under the Hood” of Literature	172
	Opinions Are Like...Well, You Know!	174
	Do We Read Watchmen for the Pictures?	177
	Watchmen as Hybrid	180
	So, Is Watchmen Literature or Not?	181
	Chapter 13: WATCHWOMEN	185
	She Fights Crime!	185
	Silk Stockings and Silk Spectres	187
	No Laughing Matter	189
	Mommy Dearest?	192
	We Leave It Entirely in Your Hands	195
	Chapter 14: HOODED JUSTICE AND CAPTAIN METROPOLIS: THE AMBIGUOUSLY GAY DUO	197
	“Those People” Are Unnatural	198
	The “Tab A Fits into Slot A” Argument	200
	They Act Out on Their Screwed-Up Desires	203
	Okay, but Don’t Allow’ Em to Marry Each Other!	205
	Should They All Be Rounded Up?	206
	Chapter 15: WHAT’S SO GODDAMNED FUNNY? THE COMEDIAN AND RORSCHACH ON LIFE’S WAY	209
	Understanding the Self: The Veidt Method	209
	Worms in the Apple	211
	In the End, a Man Stands Alone	214
	Let’s Put These Jokers through Some Changes	216
	Never Surrender	218
	Never Look Down	221
	CONTRIBUTORS	227
	INDEX	233