Why, Mr. Anderson?, Why, why?. Why do you do it? Why, why get up?. Why keep fighting?. Do you believe you're fighting...for something?.For more than your survival?. Can you tell me what it is?. Do you...
The computer-simulated dreamworld of the Matrix trilogy is a technological version of Descartes’s evil demon. In essence it represents the idea of a mind (the Architect) more powerful than our own tha...
Alice’s message for today—in Wonderland and the world at large—is that young women can do anything they like.
Kant stated simply enough, [Punishment] must always be inflicted upon [the criminal] only because he has committed a crime.7 Punishment shouldn’t be meted out for the criminal’s own good, for example,...
When I see an author on this week’s talk show promoting his Secret to Happiness, I can’t help wondering what happened to last week’s Secret on the same show.
Justice hath no meaning lest it be tempered with mercy.26
A famous quote by Nietzsche, Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.
Usually we think a person is obligated to do something that would benefit many people, but what if that something is committing murder? Which is more important, doing good—or not doing wrong?
Luckily, literature—and by literature I mean comic books—provides us a way to discuss issues like these without having to experience them. We don’t have to trick people into standing in front of a run...
Rorschach did not seek death; he didn’t commit suicide by Manhattan. But he understood what the others did not. It is better to sacrifice life than to forfeit morality. It is not necessary to live, bu...
Honor Is Like the Hawk . . . For my own part, regret nothing. Have lived life, free from compromise . . . and step into the shadow now without complaint. —Rorschach’s journal,
Atrocitus: You believe fear to be the most powerful force in the universe? Fear is inaction. Fear is hiding away. Fear is cowering and begging. Rage is action. Rage is spilling blood. Sinestro: Rage i...
Superman’s cosmopolitan decision could be interpreted simply as DC Comics attempting to appeal to the global market for Superman stuff. Less cynically, though, one blogger said, It’s refreshing to see...
People who fight for a country just because they are paid to do so are mercenaries, and they have no problem switching sides if it serves their interests (Lex Luthor is a classic example).
Two of the most fascinating yet troublesome topics in moral philosophy—forgiveness and redemption—issues that must be dealt with together. Without forgiveness there can be no redemption, and forgivene...
As Rorschach so poetically put it, This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not god who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the...