Ender's Game and Philosophy

Enders Game, Orson Scott Cards award-winning 1985 novel, has been discovered and rediscovered by generations of science fiction fans and young adult readers, banned and challenged in schools, assigned in high school English classes, and adopted as reading by the US Marine Corps. Ender's Game and its sequels explores rich themesthe violence and cruelty of children, the role of empathy in war, and the balance of individual dignity and the social goodwith compelling elements of a coming-of-age story and exciting and immersive battle scenes.Enders Game and Philosophy brings together over thirty philosophers to engage in wide-ranging discussion on the troubling, exciting, and fascinating issues raised in and amidst the excitement and fear of Orson Scott Cards novels and Gavin Hoods film.Authors address issues such as:the justifiability of pre-emptive strikes, how Enders disconnected and dispassionate violence is mirrored in todays drone warfare, whether the end of saving the species can justify the most brutal means, the justifiability of lies and deception in wartimes, how military schools produce training in virtue, how Ender as the good student is held to a different educational standard, which rules can be broken in games and which cannot, Enders world as a mirror of our own surveillance society, the moral hazards of child warriors, the value of Enders ability to sympathize with his enemies, the meaning of a hive-mind, the limits of our ability to relate to one, the relationship between Enders story and Cards Mormonism.The authors of Enders Game and Philosophy challenge readers to confront and work through the conceptual and emotional challenges that Enders Game presents, bringing a new light on the idea of a just war, the virtues of the soldier, the nature of childhood, the social value and moral corruption of lies and deception, the practices of education and of leadership, and the serious work of playing games.