What is a sane response to a mad world?
Can laughter be liberating?
Is civilization a thin veneer over our natural lawlessness? Can violence ever be justified in response to an unjust social order? Is one bad day really all it takes to create a villain?

Joker is one of the most fascinating villains in the DC Comics universe. A diabolically sinister but clownish villain, he is both crazed and cunning, sadistically cruel yet seductively charming. He is the character most deeply connected to the Dark Knight, his most iconic antagonist and moral antithesis, embodying everything opposed to the positive ideals of order and justice defended by the Batman.

In Joker and Philosophy, a squad of top-notch philosophical thinkers plumb the existential depths of the Clown Prince of Crime with an abundance of style, wit, and intelligence worthy of their roguish subject. Requiring no background in philosophy, this easily accessible book offers original insights into what makes this villain tick while probing the meaning of his murderous escapades.

With his enigmatic motivations, infectious irreverence, and selfless devotion to evil, Joker is a brightly colored puzzle whose perpetual grin and maniacal laugh provoke a host of philosophical questions, ranging across issues of morality, human nature, the metaphysics of freedom, the nature of identity, good and evil, political and social philosophy, aesthetics, and more--all of which are brilliantly explored in Joker and Philosophy.

To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.com