Table of Contents Popular Culture and Philosophy Title Page Dedication Acknowledgements Know Thyself? BODY PART I - Maiming and Necessity Chapter 1 - The Killing Joke What Is a Superhero? Deeds Not Words Origin Stories: The Orphan Makes Good The Superhero Syndrome The Only Truly Decent Man Left on the Planet Chapter 2 - Dexter’s Pointy Ears Dexter’s Loss Is Our Gain The Spock Problem The Dexter Problem As Goes Dexter, So Go We? The Good Life and The Dexter-like Life Chapter 3 - Dearly Damaged Dexter You’re a Killer, I Catch Killers I’ve Always Sensed There Was Something Off about Him A Little Bird with a Broken Wing You Can’t Help What Happened to You. But You Can Make the Best of It Chapter 4 - Can We Blame a Man with No Choice? How Much Control Does Dexter Have Over the Butcher’s Knife? Does Inevitability Absolve Us? Judge Frankfurt Rules Dexter Guilty Any Way You Slice It Almost Caught! Chapter 5 - What Dexter Doesn’t Know Can Hurt You Reasonable Doubts Bodies of Evidence Hey Dex, Is Your Spidey-Sense Tingling Yet? More than a Feeling? Chapter 6 - Dexter the Self-Interpreting Animal Dexter’s Inescapable Framework Has Dexter Overcome Humanity? The Need for Recognition A Story in Search of a Narrator Chapter 7 - Is Dexter Morgan Practically Perfect in Every Way? Groomin’ Lumen Corrupting the Youth of Miami The Homicidal Imperative? Kickin’ It New School I’ve Got No Strings . . . BODY PART II - The Cut of Dexter’s Jib Chapter 8 - Dexter’s Mirror The Seduction of Blood The Void, Dread, and Murder Dexter’s Ritual Transcendence of Death All for Love Chapter 9 - A Very Special Kind of Monster Corpses and Nothingness Violence and the Return of the Abject Taking Out the (Six) Garbage (Bags) Kicking the Dark Passenger Rule Number One Chapter 10 - The Sublime Dexter The Power of the Sublime The Passions Aroused by the Sublime Look for Something Bludgeony Dexter’s Aesthetics Chapter 11 - Dexter’s Specimens Try Our New Dahmerland Section at Specimens ‘R’ Us Counting Specimen Slides Dexter, Specimen Maker Buddy’s Bones Born Free of All That’s Human Pulled Pork Sandwiches and the Sexual Politics of Meat You Kidnapped a Cop This Time, You Know? Not Some Invisible Hooker Designing Women in Dexter Homosocially Yours, Dexter Specimen Watching BODY PART III - What Would Dexter Do? Chapter 12 - Pathetic Rule Follower or Vigilante Hero? What Is a Moral Code? Weird but Likeable Psychopath? Emotions, and Rules, and Morality (Oh My!) Good? Evil? Icky? Sticky? Vigilante Hero? Chapter 13 - Deontology in Dahmerland Why Might Dexter Be Amoral? The Three Moral Theories Dexter’s Deadly Virtues The Dark Defender and the Needs of the Many Dexter’s Dark Deontology You Control Your Urges—They Do Not Control You Chapter 14 - Best of Luck, Dexter! Picking Up the Dark Passenger Better You than Me, Dex! Teaching the Code of Harry . . . And No More Fucking Remorse Where the Bodies Lie Chapter 15 - Why Kill or Not Kill? That Is the Question The Mind Thinking about Its Sense of Duty Dexter Doing His Duty Dutifully? The Mind Serves the Heart Harry’s House Dexter Is a Needy Ned De-Deontologizing Dexter BODY PART IV - Bad Blood and Bad Behavior Chapter 16 - The Discipline of Dexter’s Punishment The Wimpiness of Modern Punishment Following Harry’s Code You Can’t Always Kill Whom You Want One Minute, You’re on Top of the World, the Next, Dexter’s Table Dexter Is the Sovereign We’ve Been Waiting For The Final Thrust to the Abdomen Chapter 17 - Dexter the Busy Bee Killing Killers, Saving Lives The Thrill of the Kill Bad Motives, Good Actions Enter the Man-Devil A Poem that Will Live in Infamy A Second Look at Dexter’s Motives Chapter 18 - You Hurt Her, You Hurt Me Why Does Dexter Need a Family if Blood Is His Life? Dexter’s Awkward Sexual Advances Sex, Power, and Knowing Thyself Morgan or Moser? Chapter 19 - Dexter’s Whiteness The Problem of Whiteness The Invisible Killer Murder and the Mise-en-Scène of Whiteness Death, Sex, and Dexter Chapter 20 - Happiness, Dexter Style One Code to Kill Them All Dexter: The Family Man? Beyond the Code, Beyond the Lies Can a Serial Killer Be Happy? BODY PART V - Dexter’s Bloodline Chapter 21 - Dexter Unmasked Everyday Masks Nietzsche’s Masks Dark Passengers True Blood Deeply Dissecting Dexter Chapter 22 - Neither Man nor Beast Being Bad Feels So Good The Self-Controlled Person The Morally Strong Person The Morally Weak Person The Self-Indulgent Person The Beast and the Saint Locating Dexter on the Scale Fine, I’m a Sociopath, but Do I Have to Feel Bad About it? But Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Becoming a Real Boy Chapter 23 - Dexter SPQR Nietzsche’s Bay Harbor Beast Conscience and Guilt What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us? The Ethics of Dexter’s Appeal Chapter 24 - Dexter’s Look Bad Faith Dexter as Master Caught in the Act Look at What You’ve Done! Bad or Bad Faith? Chapter 25 - Safe Dex Dexter the Just Man Rooting for a Killer Our Killers, Right or Wrong The Retribution of Raffles Enter the Bulldog Enter the Saint Decline of the Vigilante Novel Dexter, Hero of Our Time The Perps Index Copyright Page Popular Culture and Philosophy ® Series Editor: George A. Reisch VOLUME 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000) VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer (2001) VOLUME 3 The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002) VOLUME 4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003) VOLUME 5 The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (2003) VOLUME 9 Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004) VOLUME 12 Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005) VOLUME 13 Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005) VOLUME 17 Bob Dylan and Philosophy: It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Thinking) (2006) VOLUME 18 Harley-Davidson and Philosophy: Full-Throttle Aristotle (2006) VOLUME 19 Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006) VOLUME 24 Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time (2006) VOLUME 25 The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Can’t Be Thunk (2006) VOLUME 26 South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007) Edited by Richard Hanley VOLUME 28 The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight (2007) Edited by Steven Gimbel VOLUME 29 Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy: How to Philosophize with a Pair of Pliers and a Blowtorch (2007) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad VOLUME 30 Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007) Edited by George A. Reisch VOLUME 31 Johnny Cash and Philosophy: The Burning Ring of Truth (2008) Edited by John Huss and David Werther VOLUME 32 Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy: Darkness on the Edge of Truth (2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Doug Anderson VOLUME 33 Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? (2008) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin VOLUME 34 iPod and Philosophy: iCon of an ePoch (2008) Edited by D.E. Wittkower VOLUME 35 Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008) Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker VOLUME 36 The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008) Edited by Luke Cuddy VOLUME 37 The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West (2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Phillip S. Seng VOLUME 38 Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive (2009) Edited by Brandon W. Forbes and George A. Reisch VOLUME 39 Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life (2009) Edited by Erin McKenna and Scott L. Pratt VOLUME 40 Transformers and Philosophy (2009) Edited by John Shook and Liz Stillwaggon Swan VOLUME 41 Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) (2009) Edited by Aaron Allen Schiller VOLUME 42 Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009) Edited by Ben Dyer VOLUME 43 The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison VOLUME 44 Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed (2009) Edited by Scott Calef VOLUME 45 World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King (2009) Edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger Volume 46 Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower Volume 47 Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin VOLUME 48 The Red Sox and Philosophy: Green Monster Meditations (2010) Edited by Michael Macomber VOLUME 49 Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad VOLUME 50 Facebook and Philosophy: What’s on Your Mind? (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower VOLUME 51 Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (2010) Edited by Ted Richards VOLUME 52 Manga and Philosophy: Fullmetal Metaphysician (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Adam Barkman VOLUME 53 Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness (2010) Edited by Graham Priest and Damon Young VOLUME 54 The Onion and Philosophy: Fake News Story True, Alleges Indignant Area Professor (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye VOLUME 55 Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka VOLUME 56 Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat (2011) Edited by Jeffery Nicholas VOLUME 57 Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United (2011) Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman VOLUME 58 Dexter and Philosophy: Mind ove Spatter (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison IN PREPARATION: Halo and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Luke Cuddy Spongebob Squarepants and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Joseph Foy Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Josef Steiff Philip K. Dick and Philosophy (2011) Edited by D.E. Wittkower Inception and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein Breaking Bad and Philosophy (2012) Edited by David R. Koepsell Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Mark Ralkowski The Rolling Stones and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Luke Dick and Gearge A. Reisch For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy® books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com. For Brandy Burfield Acknowledgments Working on this project has been a pleasure, in no small part because of the many fine folks who have assisted us along the way. In particular a debt of gratitude is owed to David Ramsay Steele at Open Court, the contributors to this volume, and our respective academic departments at UMass Amherst, Northwestern University, and Weber State University. Finally, we’d like to thank those family members, students, friends, and colleagues with whom we’ve had fruitful and rewarding conversations on various aspects of all things Dexter as they relate to philosophical themes. Know Thyself? GEORGE A. REISCH The statistics are one in twenty-five. That means there’s a good chance that there was one among my elementary school classmates, two in my high-school student council (which explains a lot!) and about eighty at the last meeting of the American Philosophical Association. Yikes. Sociopaths are everywhere—at least according to psychologist Martha Stout who, in her book The Sociopath Next Door, formulates the one-in-twenty-five (four percent) statistic. The sociopaths Stout has dedicated her life to studying have three defining traits: they are incapable of feeling ordinary human emotions, like compassion, empathy, and love; they have no moral conscience and simply don’t feel shame or guilt like the rest of us; and they easily hide this from those of us around them. How do they do it? In large part, they don’t. We do it. We are so confident that we know what other people are about, we do the work for them. As Stout puts it, “since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless.” When you’re one of the one-in-twenty-five, living, working, and bowling with your friends, “the icewater in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience, that they seldom even guess at your condition.” (p. 1). The only good news is that most of these sociopaths are not vicious serial killers.