The Absolute and Star Trek

by George A. Gonzalez

This volume explains how Star Trek allows viewers to comprehend significant aspects of Georg Hegel’s concept the absolute, the driving force behind history. Gonzalez, with wit and wisdom, explains how Star Trek exhibits central elements of the absolute. He describes how themes and ethos central to the show display the concept beautifully. For instance, the show posits that people must possess the correct attitudes in order to bring about an ideal a commitment to social justice; an unyielding commitment to the truth; and a similar commitment to scientific, intellectual discovery. These characteristics serve as perfect embodiments of Hegel’s conceptualization, and Gonzalez's analysis is sharp and exacting.

132 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2017

About the author

George A. Gonzalez is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, USA. He specializes in the fields of political theory, popular culture, and environmental politics and policy. In the areas of popular culture and political theory he has published two articles in the journal Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, as well as the book The Politics of Star Trek: Justice, War, and the Future.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hegelian-Trotskyist-Trekkie agitprop that refuses any attention to analytic nuance or to tarry w/ the scintillating negativity of Nietzsche, Schmitt Heidegger, & Strauss, but, as someone who's ideologically sympathetic to the project, it's hard not to admire the work's commitment to speculative philosophy & political equality & assaults on analytic philosophy, pragmatism, particularity, & anti-Trek Trek studies.