Firefly as Philosophy: Social Contracts, Political Dissent, and Virtuous Communities

Abstract

A careful analysis of Joss Whedon’s Firefly and subsequent motion picture Serenity demonstrates how the series and film put forth a distinctive philosophical perspective on government, its political authority, the extent to which one is bound to its laws, and how the state ideally ought to be arranged so that its citizens may aspire toward the good life. Although Firefly’s and Serenity’s implicit philosophical theory has some affinities with the views of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Aristotle, it also provides a novel and intriguing synthesis of their views. Consequently, the careful viewer is able to assess the theory on its own merits, both for its conceptual coherence and its viability as a working social-political theory (or the next best thing if no other proper social arrangements are available).