Philosophy in The Twilight Zone

Lauded by fans and critics alike, Rod Serling's groundbreaking The Twilight Zone series is one of pop culture's most enduring icons. By exploring the fantastical depths of the unknown, the 156 original episodes (1959–64) continue to hold viewers spellbound. While the stories embrace elements of the supernatural, they were also quite consciously intended to enlighten the public on a broad range of philosophical issues – often by violating conventions of classical narration (to say nothing of the laws of physics).

Philosophy in The Twilight Zone delves deeply into the complex philosophical strands woven throughout the series – issues including skepticism, the ethics of war and peace, and the nature of privacy, personal dignity, knowledge, love, happiness, and justice. This collection of original essays by leading philosophical scholars focuses on particular episodes or examines broader philosophical themes raised in the series. An illuminating critical and biographical introduction to series creator and principle writer Rod Serling is also "submitted for your approval."

Philosophy in The Twilight Zone is a thought-provoking journey into the philosophical landscape of a series that did indeed take us into a dimension not only of sight and sound – but of mind.

Noël Carroll is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, a former President of the American Society for Aesthetics, and a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship. He has published numerous books including the Philosophy of Horror (1990) and A Philosophy of Mass Art (1999). He has also worked as a journalist and has written five documentary pictures.

Lester H. Hunt is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has also taught at Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and The John Hopkins University. He has written extensively on ethics, political philosophy, and the aesthetics of film, and is the author of Nietzsche and the Origins of Virtue (1990) and Character and Culture (1998). He is currently working on a book on anarchy and the justification of the state.