Superheroes and Philosophy

This book is a compilation of essays edited by Tom Morris and Matt Morris. The role of this book in your thesis is simple - Batman has had such a large influence on popular culture that essays examining his role in modern day philosophy have been written and published. The essay "The Secret of Secret Identities" by Tom Morris says it the best:

"Superman and Batman are the Plato and Aristotle of the comic-book world........Aristotle, by contrast, is the earthly, this-worldly thinker, interested in the natural sciences and immersed in the practical and the real. He is also thought of as the inventor of logic, but is perhaps best described as one of its primary discoverers and its first masterful expositor. Likewise, Batman is the down-and-dirty, pragmatic, this-worldly superhero who uses whatever is available, but is at the same time a master of applicable science and technology, along with being the supreme detective, an unsurpassable practitioner of logic in all that he does. p.262"

Citation - Morris, Tom, and Matt Morris. Superheroes and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2005. 262. Print.