"This book examines the intersection of fictional narratives and political philosophy, focusing specifically on the use of short stories to teach the classic works of political philosophy. It is a resource for scholars and teachers of politics, philosophy, and literature"--.

• Cover
• Short Stories and Political Philosophy
• Series page
• Short Stories and Political Philosophy: Power, Prose, and Persuasion
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1
• Introduction
  • Political Philosophy and Fiction: The Case for Congruity
  • Common Ends, Different Means
  • Short Stories: Advantages of Form and Function
  • The Endemic Tradition of Storytelling
  • Disrupting Disciplinary Boundaries
  • Existing Scholarship and the Contributions of this Volume
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 2
• Big Data for the Good Life
  • Self-Knowledge and the Good Life
  • Social Interactions, Observation, and Justice
  • Hacking the Human Condition: Enter Big Data
  • Digital Natives
  • Surveillance and the Human Condition
  • The Economics of Big Data
  • Increased Data, Better Algorithms, More Perfect Matches
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 3
• Paolo Bacigalupi’s “Pop Squad” and the Examined Life Worth Living
  • The Symposium and the Search for Immortality
  • Children of the Body
  • Children of the Soul
  • Meaningless Life
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 4
• All the World’s a Cage
  • Meaning and the Masses
  • Soul Meets Body
  • The End of Art
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 5
• Conflicting Moral Goods
  • First Incident: Going to Court
  • Second Incident: Meeting Major de Spain
  • Third Incident: Barn Burning
  • Families, Justice, and Truth-telling
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 6
• From the Iron Cage to the “Waters of Babylon”
  • The World of Babylon: Exile, Grief, and Renewal
  • Mapping the Apocalyptic
  • The Fate of Our Times: Rationalization, Disenchantment, and the Modern Age
  • POLITICS, RELIGION, AND SCIENCE AS VOCATIONS
  • Religion, Science, and Disenchantment
  • Post-Apocalypse Now: To Babylon and Beyond
  • Escaping the Iron Cage
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 7
• “The Terrible Justice of Reality”
  • From Utopia to Everyday Injustice: “Omelas” as Psychomyth
  • First Dilemma of Responsibility: Who is Responsible for Omelas?
  • Second Dilemma of Responsibility: Is it Responsible to Walk Away?
  • Omelas and Us
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 8
• Kinship, Community, and the Bureaucratic State
  • The Archetypal Modern Man
  • A Matter of Patriotism
  • Berry and the Development of American Agrarian Thought
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 9
• “The Incarnation of My Native Land”
  • Henry James’ “Pandora”
  • “Pandora” as a Complement to American Political Thought
  • American Political Thought and the Literary Imagination
  • The Paradox of Liberalism
  • The Lady of Infinite Mirth
  • “Active Patriotism” and Moral Seriousness
  • Her House Left Out More People Than It Took In
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 10
• Jumping at Our Reflection
  • “Classics in some category:” “The Lottery” and Republic
  • Cultural Universals and the Birth of Tragedy
  • Whose Justice?
  • Fairness, Legality, Legitimacy, Democracy
  • History and Hysteria
  • Blame, Obligation, Intervention
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Chapter 11
• Conclusion
  • Short Fiction’s Pedagogical Edge
  • Short Stories in the Classroom
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Index
• About the Editors and Contributors