Special Edition Spring 2023: Philosophy? In Space? More Likely Than You Think
A look at the Philosophy of Star Trek Class
By M Yeager
What do you think of when you hear “Star Trek?” Is it Leonard Nimoy’s Spock and the Vulcan Ta’al hand gesture? Or perhaps Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard? Maybe you think of something else entirely. In last fall’s Philosophy Topics class, Philosophy of Star Trek highlighted philosophy as another recognizable aspect of the franchise.
The Star Trek franchise started in the late 1960s with the creation of what is now known as The Original Series (TOS) by Gene Roddenberry. Since then, the franchise has only grown to include 12 series, 13 films, novels, video games and much more. The franchise takes place in the 22nd through the 24th centuries on various Starfleet spaceships and space stations. One of the things that Star Trek is known for is being ahead of its time in terms of representation both on and off screen, from Lieutenant Uhura, one of the first prominent Black characters in American television who appeared in all but two of the 79 episodes of TOS, to Bill Thiess’s costume designs and Mike Minor’s art direction, both of who were queer men.
A quote from Gene Roddenberry. Credit: The Making of Star Trek (1968)
The Philosophy of Star Trek course in the fall of 2022 was taught by Dr. Anne Maloney, associate professor of philosophy, and focused on the first four series of the franchise: The Original Series, The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space Nine (DS9) and Voyager. The class was split into five units that tackled some of the most common philosophical questions: “Is there a fate worse than death?”, “What does it mean to be human?”, “What matters more, moral principles or individual persons?”, “What is war good for?” and “How is the ‘real world’ different from the imaginary world?” These questions and topics were also borne out of a combination of what Maloney is interested in thinking about and what she has found that students want to talk about from her years of teaching.
In each unit, the class would watch several episodes of Star Trek that surrounded the unit’s question or theme. Throughout the semester, students would write short papers on these episodes and analyze how each episode either did or did not answer the unit’s question. At the end of the semester, each student wrote a major paper on a philosophical topic of their choosing. Examples of topics from these papers were neurodivergency, neurodivergent friendships, death and the afterlife, gender and leadership and utilitarianism and power dynamics.
That’s one of the first modern science fiction series for you. Credit: fancy-letter-rectangle on Tumblr
The reasons for taking the class varied between students, from fulfilling credit requirements to already being a fan of the franchise and wanting to engage with it in a different way. One of the largest aspects of the science fiction genre in general is to think and engage with issues both critically and philosophically. Philosophy is best done as an activity rather than merely studying it, which is part of the reason why Maloney has previously taught Philosophy in Film and now Philosophy of Star Trek. “[Teaching philosophy through media is] a way to reach people where they are already interested in making meaning and trying to make meaning with them,” Maloney said. With Star Trek in particular, people talk about things that philosophers care about, and it is a way to meet people where they are.
Many students had already engaged with other media critically, but it did somewhat expand their ideas on the franchise and the time periods each series we watched were written in as well as the issues that were covered. “I liked how [DS9] handled important things, such as how to deal with people who enslaved your entire planet, or how five neurodivergent people tried to stop a war by surrendering over the Federation,” said Kat Hage ‘22 (English).
Other students reflected on the entire franchise’s handling of other issues, such as neurodivergency.“It’s interesting to see what they got right and what they got wrong, especially on the neurodivergent front,” said Anika Coleman ‘25 (Political Science).
Exploring philosophical themes and questions through media is important, especially in media that was created several decades ago. One of the most interesting aspects of watching Star Trek with a critical and philosophical lens is seeing similar issues to the present day. “There are episodes that are about more broad philosophical issues, like how do we treat people? [...] That’s always going to be a question,” Coleman said.
A collage of some of the most famous characters from each of the franchise’s series. Credit: Paramount
Watching these particular episodes for Kathryn Feil ‘25 (Theology) “more or less gave hope that the issues that we’re experiencing today were noticed and recognized back in the ‘60s and ‘90s.” Often, the franchise is chalked up to a typical science-fiction series that has become a classic, or the counterpart to Star Wars. Star Trek and TOS in particular were borne out of the politics of the Cold War and a new world emerging after World War II. The diversity of the TOS bridge crew in addition to the questions of race, gender, genocide and war were very much responses to the world at that time.
For myself, I found this course very interesting and likely one of my favorite classes I have taken so far. My mother is a fan of TNG and the movies in particular, and it is interesting to connect with her on that, especially with my knowledge of queer, gender and communication studies. The course has also offered a newfound interest in the Star Trek franchise for myself.
There are many engaging and fun Philosophy topics courses offered that allow for students to do philosophy rather than merely study it. Emotions as Resources for Resistance is a topics class that will be offered in the fall and Race, Racism and Reparations, which has been offered in fall of 2021 and spring 2023, are two such classes. Dr. Amy Hilden, associate professor of philosophy, who runs the latter, hopes to have it become a permanent course, rather than just a topics one.
Reader: What are your thoughts on philosophical issues being discussed in works of fiction? Can you think of any other media that does that?
Live long and prosper.
