Dawn of the read

Members of the "Chicken Soup for the Soulless" philosophy reading group on campus have recently proposed a radical new topic for discussion: the philosophical implications of a zombie apocalypse.

"There are a multitude of factors that have to be considered in the event of an undead outbreak actually occurring in reality," said freshman philosophy minor Matthew Longley, who plans to attend the next session, tentatively scheduled Feb. 18.

Longley poses his primary philosophical quandary:

"You wake up caught in the middle of the end of days, and almost everyone you know is undead, hungry for human flesh and hunting you down. Do you barricade yourself in a safe place and stockpile goods? Do you arm yourself with all the guns and improvised weaponry you can find and go on a rampage? Perhaps most importantly, what are the moral implications of killing someone who is technically already dead?"

The reading group continues to place a strong emphasis on the philosophical aspects of the topic, going beyond simple survival scenarios and questioning the morality, humanity and existential crises involved in a zombie-infested world.

"The first essay we discussed focused on a rational reason behind why being undead is consistently considered bad - or worse than conventional death," said Paul Trim, senior philosophy major and vice president of the undergraduate philosophy circle.

Trim recently came up with the idea for the group, deriving questions from the novel "The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless." Thus far, potential topics include whether or not the undead could be held responsible for their actions, the morally gray area of murdering zombies and how "cool" or enjoyable it would potentially be to lead the life of an undead monster.

"In the movies, you always hear a protagonist say something along the lines of, 'If I become one of those things, shoot me in the head,'" Trim said. "The essay, and our discussion, essentially concluded that being undead can't reasonably be considered worse than normal death, regardless of how horrible it might seem."

Trim said that his main reason for creating the reading group was to popularize philosophy reading groups at The University of Memphis as a whole, using the popular and accessible topic of zombie scenarios to encourage new students to attend.