Covering 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 philosophyEnlightens people to the nature of tattoos and the tattooing arts, leading readers to think deeply about tattoos in new waysOffers thoughtful and humorous insights that make philosophical ideas accessible to the non-philosopher

Robert Arp is a philosopher and ontologist who has taught at numerous colleges and universities.  He is the author ofScenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving (2008) and a co-author ofCritical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well (2011),Whats Good on TV: Understanding Ethics through Television (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), andPhilosophy DeMYSTiFieD (2011); in addition, he is editor ofSouth Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006).

Series Editor

Fritz Allhoff is an associate professor in the philosophy department at Western Michigan University, as well as a senior research fellow at the Australian National Universitys Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. In addition to editing thePhilosophy for Everyone series, he is also the volume editor or co-editor for several titles, includingWine and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007),Whiskey and Philosophy (with Marcus P. Adams, Wiley, 2009), andFood and Philosophy (with Dave Monroe, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007). His academic research interests engage various facets of applied ethics, ethical theory, and the history and philosophy of science.

I Ink, Therefore I Foreword xRocky Rakovic

I Am, Therefore I Ink:An Introduction to Tattoos Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink, Therefore I Am xivRobert 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 3Charles Taliaferro and Mark Odden

2 How to Read a Tattoo, and Other Perilous Quests 14Juniper Ellis

SHEET II TATTOOS AND ART 27

3 Are Tattoos Art? 29Nicolas Michaud

4 Fleshy Canvas:The Aesthetics of Tattoos from Feminist and Hermeneutical Perspectives 38Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray and Tanya Rodriguez

SHEET III THE TATTOOED WOMAN 51

5 Female Tattoos and Graffiti 53Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

6 Painted Fetters:Tattooing as Feminist Liberation 65Nancy Kang

SHEET IV PERSONAL IDENTITY 81

7 Tattoo You:Personal Identity in Ink 83Kyle Fruh and Emily Thomas

8 Illusions of Permanence:Tattoos and the Temporary Self 96Rachel C. Falkenstern

9 My Tattoo May Be Permanent, But My Memory of It Isn't 109Clancy Smith

SHEET V EXPRESSIONS OF FREEDOM 121

10 Tattoos are Forever:Bodily Freedom and the (Im)possibility of Change 123Felipe Carvalho

11 Bearing the Marks:How Tattoos Reveal Our Embodied Freedom 135Jonathan Heaps

SHEET VI EXPERIENCES AND STORIES SURROUNDING TATTOOS 149

12 Never Merely 'There':Tattooing as a Practice of Writing and a Telling of Stories 151Wendy Lynne Lee

13 Something Terribly Flawed:Philosophy and The Illustrated Man' 165Kevin S. Decker

SHEET VII ETHICAL CONCERNS 179

14 The Vice of the Tough Tattoo 181Jennifer Baker

15 To Ink, or Not To Ink:Tattoos and Bioethics 193Daniel Miori

16 Writing on the Body:The Modern Morality of the Tattoo 206Simon Woods

SHEET VIII EASTERN AND RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES 219

17 Is a Tattoo a Sign of Impiety? 221Adam Barkman

18 Confessions of a Tattooed Buddhist Philosopher 230Joseph J. Lynch

19 An Atheist and a Theist Discuss a Cross Tattoo and God's Existence 242Robert Arp

Notes on Contributors 261