What explains the huge popular following for "Dexter", currently the most-watched show on TV, which sympathetically depicts a serial killer driven by a cruel compulsion? Although Dexter Morgan kills only killers, he is not a vigilante but a charming psychopath. His gory appetite is controlled by 'Harry's Code', which limits his victims to those who have gotten away with murder, and his job as a blood-spatter expert for the Miami police department gives him the inside track on those targets. In "Dexter and Philosophy", an elite team of philosophers put Dexter's deeds under the microscope. Since Dexter is driven to ritual murder by his 'Dark Passenger', can he be blamed for killing, especially as he only murders other murderers? Does Dexter fit the profile of the familiar fictional type of the superhero? Why does Dexter long to be a normal human being, and why can't he accomplish this apparently simple goal?

About the Author

Richard Greene is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. He is co-editor of Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy, The Sopranos and Philosophy, Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy, and The Golden Compass and Philosophy. George Reisch is the author of How the Cold War Transformed the Philosophy of Science and editor of Pink Floyd and Philosophy and co-editor of Monty Python and Philosophy, Radiohead and Philosophy, and Bullshit and Philosophy. Rachel Robison is completing her Ph.D in philosophy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is co-editor of The Golden Compass and Philosophy.