Robert Arp 
Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone 
I Ink, Therefore I Am

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 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

Inhaltsverzeichnis

I 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

Über den Autor

Robert Arp is a philosopher and ontologist who has taught
at numerous colleges and universities. He is the author of
Scenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative
Problem Solving (2008) and a co-author of Critical Thinking:
An Introduction to Reasoning Well (2011), What’s Good
on TV: Understanding Ethics through Television
(Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), and Philosophy De MYSTi Fie D (2011);
in addition, he is editor of South 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 University’s
Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. In addition
to editing the Philosophy for Everyone series, he is also
the volume editor or co-editor for several titles, including
Wine and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), Whiskey and
Philosophy (with Marcus P. Adams, Wiley, 2009), and Food 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.