On a recent episode of PBS Idea Channel, host Mike Rugnetta explains in fine detail how Deadpool knows that he is a fictional comic book character. Rugnetta uses the philosophical study of “Phenomenology” to shine some light on the witty antihero’s higher level of consciousness.
Has Deadpool reached a higher level of consciousness? According to the philosophical theory of ‘phenomenology,’ our consciousness is unfalteringly dependent upon the experiences of our body. The concept of the mind is inseparable from that of the body because we experience the whole of our reality THROUGH our body. But in Deadpool’s case, his body is not so much a part of his reality as it is just another object that he interacts with. He is unfazed by his own mutilation, and has experienced his own physical destruction too many times to keep track of. So has this fundamentally altered his state of consciousness, to the point of delusion? We think it is very possible.
