In this Book

summary
Twilight Zone Reflections is the first book of its kind to explore the entirety of The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) as a series. It acts as both an introduction to the field of philosophy and as a complete guide to the philosophical issues illustrated throughout the original 1959-64 television series. Author Saul Traiger explores each of the 156 episodes, investigating the show’s themes in metaphysics, epistemology, moral and political philosophy, and other topics in a way that is accessible to both seasoned philosophers and those outside academia. 

Each short chapter dives into a single episode and concludes with helpful cross-references to other episodes that explore similar philosophical problems and subjects. For example, a reader may be interested in questions about the nature of the mind and whether machines can think. By referencing this book, they could easily discover the thematic connections between episodes like “I Sing the Body Electric” or “The Lateness of the Hour,”  and learn how both episodes introduce the viewer to possible worlds that challenge us to consider whether our idea of the mind, and even our very personhood, extends beyond the human to robots and other artificial intelligences. Each chapter introduces fundamental philosophical questions such as these through the lens of The Twilight Zone and inspires additional exploration. Further readings are suggested for all episodes, making this volume indispensable to academics, students, and fans of the show. Each chapter is short and accessible, ensuring that this book is the perfect resource to accompany a complete series re-watch. 

The Twilight Zone considered questions that strike at the heart of philosophical inquiry, such as the nature of self, the existence of god, the possibility of an afterlife, the relationship between knowledge and mental illness, the nature of possibility, even the nature of imagination itself, and so much more. Traiger argues that each episode can serve as an entry point for philosophical reflection. Twilight Zone Reflections is a valuable reference for anyone interested in exploring a well-known slice of popular culture history that doubles as a vast store of philosophical ideas.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Half Title
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  1. Copyright
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  1. Contents
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  1. Member Institution Acknowledgments
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  1. Preface
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  1. Introduction
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  1. 1. “Where Is Everybody?”
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  1. 2. “One for the Angels”
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  1. 3. “Mr. Denton on Doomsday”
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  1. 4. “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine”
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  1. 5. “Walking Distance”
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  1. 6. “Escape Clause”
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  1. 7. “The Lonely”
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  1. 8. “Time Enough at Last”
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  1. 9. “Perchance to Dream”
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  1. 10. “Judgement Night”
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  1. 11. “And When the Sky Was Opened”
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  1. 12. “What You Need”
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  1. 13. “The Four of Us Are Dying”
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  1. 14. “Third from the Sun”
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  1. 15. “I Shot an Arrow into the Air”
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  1. 16. “The Hitch Hiker”
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  1. 17. “The Fever”
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  1. 18. “The Last Flight”
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  1. 19. “The Purple Testament”
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  1. 20. “Elegy”
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  1. 21. “Mirror Image”
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  1. 22. “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”
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  1. 23. “A World of Difference”
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  1. 24. “Long Live Walter Jameson”
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  1. 25. “People Are Alike All Over”
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  1. 26. “Execution”
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  1. 27. “The Big Tall Wish”
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  1. 28. “A Nice Place to Visit”
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  1. 29. “Nightmare as a Child”
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  1. 30. “A Stop at Willoughby”
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  1. 31. “The Chaser”
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  1. 32. “A Passage for Trumpet”
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  1. 33. “Mr. Bevis”
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  1. 34. “The After Hours”
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  1. 35. “The Mighty Casey”
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  1. 36. “A World of His Own”
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  1. 37. “King 9 Will Not Return”
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  1. 38. “The Man in the Bottle”
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  1. 39. “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room”
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  1. 40. “A Thing About Machines”
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  1. 41. “The Howling Man”
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  1. 42. “The Eye of the Beholder”
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  1. 43. “Nick of Time”
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  1. 44. “The Lateness of the Hour”
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  1. 45. “The Trouble with Templeton”
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  1. 46. “A Most Unusual Camera”
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  1. 47. “The Night of the Meek”
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  1. 48. “Dust”
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  1. 49. “Back There”
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  1. 50. “The Whole Truth”
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  1. 51. “The Invaders”
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  1. 52. “A Penny for Your Thoughts”
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  1. 53. “Twenty Two”
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  1. 54. “The Odyssey of Flight 33”
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  1. 55. “Mr. Dingle, the Strong”
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  1. 56. “Static”
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  1. 57. “The Prime Mover”
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  1. 58. “Long Distance Call”
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  1. 59. “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim”
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  1. 60. “The Rip Van Winkle Caper”
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  1. 61. “The Silence”
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  1. 62. “Shadow Play”
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  1. 63. “The Mind and the Matter”
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  1. 64. “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”
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  1. 65. “The Obsolete Man”
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  1. 66. “Two”
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  1. 67. “The Arrival”
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  1. 68. “The Shelter”
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  1. 69. “The Passersby”
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  1. 70. “A Game of Pool”
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  1. 71. “The Mirror”
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  1. 72. “The Grave”
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  1. 73. “It’s a Good Life”
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  1. 74. “Deaths-Head Revisited”
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  1. 75. “The Midnight Sun”
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  1. 76. “Still Valley”
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  1. 77. “The Jungle”
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  1. 78. “Once Upon A Time”
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  1. 79. “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”
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  1. 80. “A Quality of Mercy”
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  1. 81. “Nothing in the Dark”
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  1. 82. “One More Pallbearer”
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  1. 83. “Dead Man’s Shoes”
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  1. 84. “The Hunt”
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  1. 85. “Showdown with Rance McGrew”
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  1. 86. “Kick the Can”
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  1. 87. “A Piano in the House”
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  1. 88. “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank”
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  1. 89. “To Serve Man”
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  1. 90. “The Fugitive”
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  1. 91. “Little Girl Lost”
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  1. 92. “Person or Persons Unknown”
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  1. 93. “The Little People”
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  1. 94. “Four O’Clock”
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  1. 95. “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby”
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  1. 96. “The Trade-Ins”
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  1. 97. “The Gift”
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  1. 98. “The Dummy”
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  1. 99. “Young Man’s Fancy”
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  1. 100. “I Sing the Body Electric”
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  1. 101. “Cavender Is Coming”
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  1. 102. “The Changing of the Guard”
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  1. 103. “In His Image”
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  1. 104. “The Thirty-Fathom Grave”
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  1. 105. “Valley of the Shadow”
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  1. 106. “He’s Alive”
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  1. 107. “Mute”
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  1. 108. “Death Ship”
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  1. 109. “Jess-Belle”
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  1. 110. “Miniature”
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  1. 111. “Printer’s Devil”
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  1. 112. “No Time Like the Past”
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  1. 113. “The Parallel”
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  1. 114. “I Dream of Genie”
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  1. 115. “The New Exhibit”
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  1. 116. “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville”
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  1. 117. “The Incredible World of Horace Ford”
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  1. 118. “On Thursday We Leave for Home”
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  1. 119. “Passage on the Lady Anne”
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  1. 120. “The Bard”
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  1. 121. “In Praise of Pip”
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  1. 122. “Steel”
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  1. 123. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”
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  1. 124. “A Kind of a Stopwatch”
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  1. 125. “The Last Night of a Jockey”
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  1. 126. “Living Doll”
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  1. 127. “The Old Man in the Cave”
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  1. 128. “Uncle Simon”
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  1. 129. “Probe 7, Over and Out”
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  1. 130. “The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms”
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  1. 131. “A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain”
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  1. 132. “Ninety Years Without Slumbering”
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  1. 133. “Ring-a-Ding Girl”
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  1. 134. “You Drive”
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  1. 135. “The Long Morrow”
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  1. 136. “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross”
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  1. 137. “Number 12 Looks Just Like You”
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  1. 138. “Black Leather Jackets”
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  1. 139. “Night Call”
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  1. 140. “From Agnes—With Love”
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  1. 141. “Spur of the Moment”
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  1. 142. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
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  1. 143. “Queen of the Nile”
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  1. 144. “What’s in the Box”
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  1. 145. “The Masks”
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  1. 146. “I am the Night—Color Me Black”
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  1. 147. “Sounds and Silences”
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  1. 148. “Caesar and Me”
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  1. 149. “The Jeopardy Room”
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  1. 150. “Stopover in a Quiet Town”
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  1. 151. “The Encounter”
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  1. 152. “Mr. Garrity and the Graves”
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  1. 153. “The Brain Center at Whipple’s”
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  1. 154. “Come Wander with Me”
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  1. 155. “The Fear”
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  1. 156. “The Bewitchin’ Pool”
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  1. Postscript: When What We Imagine Becomes Real: The Twilight Zone in the Late Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries
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  1. Philosophical Keywords Episode Index
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