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<p>Acknowledgments: The Command Staff of Utopia Planitia ix</p> <p>Introduction: A Guide to Living Long and Prospering 1</p> <p><b>I Alpha Quadrant: Home Systems 5</b></p> <p>1 “The More Complex the Mind, the Greater the Need for the Simplicity of Play” 7<br /><i>Jason T. Eberl</i></p> <p>2 Aristotle and James T. Kirk: The Problem of Greatness 18<br /><i>Jerold J. Abrams</i></p> <p>3 The Moral Psychology of a Starship Captain 26<br /><i>Tim Challans</i></p> <p>4 “Make It So”: Kant, Confucius, and the Prime Directive 36<br /><i>Alejandro B´arcenas and Steve Bein</i></p> <p>5 Destroying Utopias: Why Kirk Is a Jerk 47<br /><i>David Kyle Johnson</i></p> <p>6 “We Are Not Going to Kill Today”: Star Trek and the Philosophy of Peace 59<br /><i>David Boersema</i></p> <p><b>II Beta Quadrant: Dangerous Rivalries 69</b></p> <p>7 Klingons: A Cultural Pastiche 71<br /><i>Victor Grech</i></p> <p>8 The Borg as Contagious Collectivist Techno-Totalitarian Transhumanists 83<br /><i>Dan Dinello</i></p> <p>9 Assimilation and Autonomy 95<br /><i>Barbara Stock</i></p> <p>10 Q: A Rude, Interfering, Inconsiderate, Sadistic Pest—on a Quest for Justice? 105<br /><i>Kyle Alkema and Adam Barkman</i></p> <p>11 Federation Trekonomics: Marx, the Federation, and the Shift from Necessity to Freedom 115<br /><i>Jeff Ewing</i></p> <p>12 “The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few”: Utilitarianism and Star Trek 127<br /><i>Greg Littmann</i></p> <p>13 Casuistry in the Final Frontier 138<br /><i>Courtland Lewis</i></p> <p><b>III Delta Quadrant: Questing for Home 149</b></p> <p>14 “Today Is a Good Day to Die!” Transporters and Human Extinction 151<br /><i>William Jaworski</i></p> <p>15 Two Kirks, Two Rikers 162<br /><i>Trip McCrossin</i></p> <p>16 Data, Kant, and Personhood; or,Why Data Is Not a Toaster 172<br /><i>Nina Rosenstand</i></p> <p>17 Humans, Androids, Cyborgs, and Virtual Beings: All aboard the Enterprise 180<br /><i>Dennis M.Weiss</i></p> <p>18 Photons (and Drones) Be Free: Phenomenology and the Life-Worlds of Voyager’s Doctor and Seven of Nine 190<br /><i>Nicole R. Pramik</i></p> <p>19 Vision Quest into Indigenous Space 199<br /><i>Walter Robinson</i></p> <p><b>IV Gamma Quadrant: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations 211</b></p> <p>20 Rethinking the Matter: Organians Are Still Organisms 213<br /><i>Melanie Johnson-Moxley</i></p> <p>21 “In Search of . . . ” Friendship: What We Can Learn from Androids and Vulcans 223<br /><i>James M. Okapal</i></p> <p>22 Resistance Is Negligible: In Praise of Cyborgs 232<br /><i>Lisa Cassidy</i></p> <p>23 “Who I Really Am”: Odo, Mead, and the Self 243<br /><i>Pamela JG Boyer</i></p> <p>24 Is Liberation Ever a Bad Thing? Enterprise’s “Cogenitor” and Moral Relativism 253<br /><i>William A. Lindenmuth</i></p> <p>25 Resistance Really Is Futile: On Being Assimilated by Our Own Technology 264<br /><i>Dena Hurst</i></p> <p><b>V Beyond the Galactic Barrier: The Future as the Final Frontier 273</b></p> <p>26 Life on a Holodeck: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about the True Nature of Reality 275<br /><i>Dara Fogel</i></p> <p>27 Which Spock Is the Real One? Alternate Universes and Identity 288<br /><i>Andrew Zimmerman Jones</i></p> <p>28 “Strangely Compelling”: Romanticism in “The City on the Edge of Forever” 299<br /><i>Sarah O’Hare</i></p> <p>29 It Is a Q of Life: Q as a Nietzschean Figure 308<br /><i>Charles Taliaferro and Bailey Wheelock</i></p> <p>30 A God Needs Compassion, but Not a Starship: Star Trek’s Humanist Theology 315<br /><i>James F. McGrath</i></p> <p>31 “The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning”: Star Trek’s Secular Society 326<br /><i>Kevin S. Decker</i></p> <p>Contributors: Federation Ambassadors to Babel 340</p> <p>Index 349</p>

<p><b>Kevin S. Decker</b> is Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Washington University, where he teaches ethics, American and Continental philosophy, and philosophy of popular culture. He is co-editor of <i>Philosophy and Breaking Bad</i> (2016) and <i>Who is Who? The Philosophy of Doctor Who</i> (2013). He is co-editor, with Jason T. Eberl, of <i>The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy</i> (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), <i>Star Trek and Philosophy</i> (2008), and <i>Star Wars and Philosophy</i> (2005).</p> <p><b>Jason T. Eberlis</b> the Semler Endowed Chair for Medical Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he teaches bioethics, ethics, and medieval philosophy. He has edited or contributed to books on <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>, <i>Sons of Anarchy</i>, Metallica, <i>Terminator</i>, <i>The Hunger Games</i>, <i>The Big Lebowski</i>, Stanley Kubrick, J.J. Abrams, and <i>Avatar</i>. His most recent books are <i>The Routledge Guidebook to Aquinas' Summa Theologiae</i> (2015) and <i>The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan</i> (2016). He is co-editor, with Kevin S. Decker, of <i>The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy</i> (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), <i>Star Trek and Philosophy</i> (2008), and <i>Star Wars and Philosophy</i> (2005).</p>

<p>Can a starship captain be both great and moral? Can Vulcans and androids really have (or be) friends? What is it like to be a hologram, shapeshifter, or incorporeal entity? Why do the Borg frighten us so much? Is there room for God in the <i>Star Trek</i> universe? Is Q just a sadistic pest or a <i>provocateur</i> of human advancement?</p> <p><i>The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy</i> boldly goes where no book has gone before in pursuit of a greater philosophical understanding of the galaxy's final frontier. It reunites the editors of <i>Star Trek and Philosophy</i> with Starfleet's finest experts for 30 new, highly logical essays to provide a thorough examination of the <i>Star Trek</i> universe - from the original series to the most recent films directed by J.J. Abrams, <i>Star Trek</i> (2009) and <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> (2013). The essays introduce important concepts in philosophy through the vast array of provocative issues raised by the series, such as the ethics of the Prime Directive, <i>Star Trek</i>'s philosophy of peace, Data and <i>Voyager</i>'s Doctor as persons, moral relativism and the Federation's quest for liberation, the effect of alternate universes on reality and identity, the Borg as transhumanists, Federation Trekonomics, and <i>Star Trek</i>'s secular society. Available in time to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the endlessly inventive and beloved <i>Star Trek</i> franchise, this is an enterprising and enlightening voyage into deep space that will appeal to hardcore fans and science fiction enthusiasts alike.</p>

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