Description
Book SynopsisCovering philosophical issues ranging from tattooed religious symbols to a feminist aesthetics of tattoo,
Tattoos and Philosophy offers an enthusiastic analysis of inking that will lead readers to consider the nature of the tattooing arts in a new and profound way.
- Contains chapters written by philosophers (most all with tattoos themselves), tattoo artists, and tattoo enthusiasts that touch upon many areas in Western and Eastern philosophy
- Enlightens people to the nature of tattoos and the tattooing arts, leading readers to think deeply about tattoos in new ways
- Offers thoughtful and humorous insights that make philosophical ideas accessible to the non-philosopher
Trade ReviewReview from The Scotman 8 June 2012
Table of ContentsI Ink, Therefore I Foreword x
Rocky Rakovic I Am, Therefore I Ink: An Introduction to Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink, Therefore I Am xiv
Robert Arp
Acknowledgments xxvii
SHEET I THE HISTORY AND NATURE OF TATTOOS 1
1 Tattoos and the Tattooing Arts in Perspective: An Overview and Some Preliminary Observations 3
Charles Taliaferro and Mark Odden
2 How to Read a Tattoo, and Other Perilous Quests 14
Juniper Ellis
SHEET II TATTOOS AND ART 27
3 Are Tattoos Art? 29
Nicolas Michaud
4 Fleshy Canvas: The Aesthetics of Tattoos from Feminist and Hermeneutical Perspectives 38
Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray and Tanya Rodriguez
SHEET III THE TATTOOED WOMAN 51
5 Female Tattoos and Graffiti 53
Thorsten Botz-Bornstein
6 Painted Fetters: Tattooing as Feminist Liberation 65
Nancy Kang
SHEET IV PERSONAL IDENTITY 81
7 Tattoo You: Personal Identity in Ink 83
Kyle Fruh and Emily Thomas
8 Illusions of Permanence: Tattoos and the Temporary Self 96
Rachel C. Falkenstern
9 My Tattoo May Be Permanent, But My Memory of It Isn't 109
Clancy Smith
SHEET V EXPRESSIONS OF FREEDOM 121
10 Tattoos are Forever: Bodily Freedom and the (Im)possibility of Change 123
Felipe Carvalho
11 Bearing the Marks: How Tattoos Reveal Our Embodied Freedom 135
Jonathan Heaps
SHEET VI EXPERIENCES AND STORIES SURROUNDING TATTOOS 149
12 Never Merely 'There': Tattooing as a Practice of Writing and a Telling of Stories 151
Wendy Lynne Lee
13 Something Terribly Flawed: Philosophy and ‘The Illustrated Man' 165
Kevin S. Decker
SHEET VII ETHICAL CONCERNS 179
14 The Vice of the Tough Tattoo 181
Jennifer Baker
15 To Ink, or Not To Ink: Tattoos and Bioethics 193
Daniel Miori
16 Writing on the Body: The Modern Morality of the Tattoo 206
Simon Woods
SHEET VIII EASTERN AND RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES 219
17 Is a Tattoo a Sign of Impiety? 221
Adam Barkman
18 Confessions of a Tattooed Buddhist Philosopher 230
Joseph J. Lynch
19 An Atheist and a Theist Discuss a Cross Tattoo and God's Existence 242
Robert Arp
Notes on Contributors 261
