philosophy in today's world

so i've just finished the book xmen and philosophy. it was amazing! it used real world questions - such as what makes us human - and applied them to the comic books and movies of the xmen. it's a very intelligent book and makes one think about many of the hard questions of life. the book is compilation of many different essays written by philosophers from all over the country and in canada. it's such a great book and it's the second one i've read in the blackwell philosophy and pop culture series. the other book i've read was south park and philosophy. the next one i want to read is battlestar galatica and philosophy.

to me it's such an amazing book to read because it makes me want to take some philosophy classes and learn more about philosophy. normally when i think about philosophy i think about stuffy old men asking silly questions that no one cares about. but that's just not true. what makes us human, should we try to cure all diseases, what's wrong with genetic experimentation and other questions are very modern and part of today's world (all questions asked in the xmen and philosophy book).

just on the news today i heard about a new genetic test that people who want to be parents can take that will test for 106 different diseases to see if their baby will be born with it. and then if both parents are postive for a certain disease, you can control what eggs are fertilized, so that eggs without those genetic deffects will be fertilized only. this would be questioned and tried to be answered in the philosophy books. and this specific question is some-what asked in the xmen book. the questioned was based around fixing or curing the 'x' gene in mutants. but the same idea can be applied (as it is in the book) to deafness. should we cure deafness, is there something to cure, should we only fertilize eggs that don't have the genes that make people deaf and so on.

these questions and more are asked in these philosophy books and i just can't stop gushing about them. they are wonderfully written and really make you think. i strongly suggest everyone going out and getting one. there are about 30 different books in that particular series. i'm sure there is at least one book that would appeal to you.