Avatar: The Last Airbender and Philosophy: Wisdom from Aang to Zuko

by Helen De Cruz (Editor), Johan De Smedt (Editor), William Irwin (Editor), Aaron Ehasz (Foreword by)

Overview

Would our world be a better place if some of us were benders?

Can Katara repair the world through care?

Is Toph a disability pride icon?

What does it mean for Zuko to be bad at being good?

Can we tell whether uncle Iroh is a fool or a sage?

The world is out of sorts. The four nations, Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, are imbalanced because of the unrelenting conquest of the Fire Nation. The only one who can restore balance to the world is the Avatar. On the face of it, Avatar: The Last Airbender is a story about a lone superhero. However, saving the world is a team effort, embodied in Team Avatar, aka the Gaang. Aang needs help from his friends and tutors, even from non-human animals. Through the teachings of Guru Pathik and Huu he comes to realize that though the world and its nations seem separate, we are all one people. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree.

Avatar: The Last Airbender and Philosophy brings to the fore the Eastern, Western, and Indigenous philosophies that are implicit in the show. Following Uncle Iroh’s advice that it is important to draw wisdom from many traditions, this volume features contributions by experts on Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, and Indigenous schools of thought, next to focusing on Western classical authors such as Plotinus, Kant, and Merleau-Ponty. The volume is also unique in drawing on less common traditions such as black abolitionism, anarchism, and the philosophy of martial arts.

Intertwining experience and reflection, ATLA and Philosophy helps readers to deeply engage with today’s burning questions, such as how to deal with ecological destruction, the aftermath of colonialism and genocide, and wealth inequality, using the tools from a wide range of philosophical traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119809807
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/01/2022
Series:	Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

HELEN DE CRUZ holds the Danforth Chair in the Humanities and is a Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University, Missouri. She has edited and co-edited several works of public philosophy, including Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories and Philosophy Illustrated.

JOHAN DE SMEDT is a Research Professor (non-tenure track) at Saint Louis University, Missouri, where he is co-leading a project on oneness and interconnectedness. He is the author and editor (with Helen De Cruz) of The Challenge of Evolution to Religion, Empirically Engaged Evolutionary Ethics, and A Natural History of Natural Theology.

Table of Contents

Contributors: Drawing Wisdom from Many Different Places viii

Preface Aaron Ehasz xvi

Introduction: "We are all one people, but we live as if divided" Helen De Cruz Joban De Smedt 1

Part I The Universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender 5

1 Native Philosophies and Relationality in Avatar: The Last Airbender: It's (Lion) Turtles All the Way Down Miranda Belarde-Lewis(Zuni/Tlingit) and Clementine Bordeaux(Sicangu Oglala Lakota) 7

2 Getting Elemental: How Many Elements Are There in Avatar: The Last Airbender? Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa 16

3 The Personalities of Martial Arts in Avatar: The Last Airbender Zacbary Isrow 25

4 The End of the World: Nationhood and Abolition in Avatar: The Last Airbender Nicholas Whittaker 34

5 The Bending World, a Bent World: Supernatural Power and Its Political Implications Yao Lin 43

Part II Water 53

6 Avatar: The Last Airbender and Anishinaabe Philosophy Brad Cloud 55

7 "Lemur!" - "Dinner!": Human-Animal Relations in Avatar: The Last Airbender Daniel Wawrzyniak 63

8 On the Moral Neutrality of Bloodbending Johnathan Flowers 71

9 On the Ethics of Bloodbending: Why Is It So Wrong and Can It Ever Be Good? Mike Gregory 79

10 Mystical Rationality Isaac Wilhelm 88

11 "I will never, ever turn, my back on people who need me": Repairing the World Through Care Nicole Fice 98

12 Spirits, Visions, and Dreams: Native American Epistemology and the Aang Gaang Justin Skirry Samuel Skirry 105

Part III Earth 115

13 Time Is an Illusion: Time and Space in the Swamp Natalia Strok 117

14 There Is No Truth in Ba Sing Se: Bald-faced Lies and the Nature of Lying Nathan Kellen 124

15 The Rocky Terrain of Disability Gain in Avatar: The Last Airbender: Is Toph a Supercrip Stereotype or a Disability Pride Icon? Joseph A. Stramondo 133

16 The Earth King, Ignorance, and Responsibility Saba Fatima 143

17 The Middle Way and the Many Faces of Earth Thomas Arnold 150

Part IV Fire 159

18 The Battle Within: Confucianism and Legalism in the Nation, the Family, and the Soul Kody W. Cooper 161

19 Not Giving Up on Zuko: Relational Identity and the Stories We Tell Barrett Emerick Audrey Yap 170

20 Uncle Iroh, From Fool to Sage - Or Sage All Along? Eric Schwitzgebel David Schwitzgebel 178

21 Being Bad at Being Good: Zuko's Transformation and Residual Practical Identities Justin F. White 188

22 Compassion and Moral Responsibility in Avatar: The Last Airbender: "I was never angry; I was afraid that you had lost your way" Robert H. Wallace 197

Part V Air 207

23 The Fire Nation and the United States: Genocide as the Foundation for Empire Building Kerri J. Malloy 209

24 Anarchist Airbenders: On Anarchist Philosophy in Avatar: The Last Airbender Savriël Dillingh 216

25 A Buddhist Perspective on Energy Bending, Strength, and the Power of Aang's Spirit Nicholaos Jones Holly Jones 225

26 Ahimsa and Aang's Dilemma: "Everyone … [has] to be treated like they're worth giving a chance" James William Lincoln 235

27 The Avatar Meets the Karmapa: Interconnections, Friendship, and Moral Training Brett Patterson 242

Index 251