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Tattoos - Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink, Therefore I Am.
Robert Arp (Editor), Fritz Allhoff (Series Editor)
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012.
Philosophy for Everyone Series , #50
266 pp. $24.95
978-0470672068

Book review by Chelsea Woodhouse

Are people with tattoos different from people without tattoos? 

According to Rocky Rakovic, editor of Inked magazine, the fundamental commonality linking together the enormity of tattoo’s existence results from the medium’s capability to expose difference (xi). However, within the past decade trendy "docuseries" such as Miami Ink have revitalized the image of tattoo in Western popular culture by appearing to encourage those who have and have not inked themselves to try to understand one another’s position regarding the decision to be tattooed or not. The once unfamiliar, even at times unwarranted, practice of tattoo is now not only able to be seen by anyone with access to cable television, but is also eliciting some fascinating assumptions regarding what exactly separates the tattooed from the non-tattooed in this day and age. In fact, the book begins by introducing The History and Nature of Tattoos (1).

What does being "you" mean for somebody with ink? 

Tattoos - Philosophy for Everyone is a collection of essays concerning how tattoos have and continue to affect our selves as individuals and members of our respective communities. Whether tattooed or not, readers are intended to confront the relationship they have with their skin. Accordingly, questions surrounding the decision to be someone with a tattoo (146) and the act of becoming someone with a tattoo (9) are among several of the series' most provocative points of discussion. No matter who or what we or others think we are, everyone has different skin according to this book.

The series begins with the assertion that a better understanding of tattoo's present-day significance should be examined using philosophical discourse given, "...tattoos have a cultural dimension that is not necessarily subject to private interpretation" (8). In Chapter two, "How to Read a Tattoo, and Other Perilous Quests" Juniper Ellis, in her reference to the moko of Ngati Toa, chief of Te Pehi Kupe (c. 1795-1828) explains this sort of Maori facial tattoo as an extension of an individual's identity that allows them to be connected to a reality existing outside of this individual’s physical environment. From this interpretation the eventual dissemination of tattoo was made possible in part because of tattoo's ability to be read as a sign of self-determination (24) by Western missionaries. Ellis concludes her chapter with the phrase, "tattoo I am" (24). For her tattoos can be seen, but not necessarily read.

Tattoos are physically inscribed on the skin. Nicolas Michaud observes this characteristic of the practice as analogous to that of an artist's canvas (29) in the production of art. At this point, the reader has been presented with the option to view tattoo as a representation of an ideology contextually specific to culture yet, disseminates. However, Michaud's chapter is the beginning of the end in terms of tattoo's presence in philosophical conversations about art. What is art, and how the practice of tattoo can be understood in terms of art, are among his discussion's guiding questions. Michaud insists art is meaningful, and uses this premise to argue for tattoo's practice to be interpreted as the performance of life and death (36-37) upon ever-changing skin.

One point Michaud and the authors of Chapter four, "Fleshy Canvas", find in common concerning tattoo's relationship to western art is that "theory makes the difference between art and non-art" (41). In their paper, Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray and Tanya Rodriguez negotiate tattoo's subjective and objective meanings. They view the practice as a reconciliation of nature and culture given its occurrence on the non-permanent surface of the body. As art, tattoos are manifestations of culture's ephemeral qualities. Yet, tattoos occur on the body, which is considered by these authors as an extension of nature. These two find tattoo's significance in its association to art given as art, tattoo is a meeting of both subject and object in the present moment whether permanent or not.

Skipping ahead, Chapter 18 entitled "Confessions of a Tattooed Buddhist Philosopher" provides a description of a much-appreciated encounter between this section's author, Joseph J. Lynch and a Tibetan man. Sparked by the latter's interest in his tattoo of the sacred mantra 'Om mani padme hum' (230), Buddhist philosopher Lynch begins to question his relationship to Buddhism in order to address later on what sort of role tattoos may play in expressing the teachings of Buddha (240-241). Lynch's reflexivity concerning the non-permanence of the human body and thusly his own tattoos presents the possibility to view tattoo as both representative of the individual upon whom it is placed, but also of one's passions, or veneration for a particular ethos that coincidentally presents existence as the trinity of impermanence, selflessness and suffering (231). Lynch argues the practice of tattoo, as he understands it, encompasses elements of all three.

Was this book too cool for school? 

Of course there is no one way to go about understanding the practice of tattoo. The authors effectively present tattoo as a point of departure grounding the vastness of their considerations concerning, for example, morality, identity and belief in God. Overall, it is clear from this text's accessible tone, which is at times pithy and may come off as a little flippant to some; those who contributed to this publication are passionate about tattoos and desire ultimately to remain in touch with themselves, their respective disciplines and ever-changing popular culture. I recommend Tattoos - Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink Therefore I Am to both graduate and undergraduate students in philosophy and the social sciences and to anyone interested in becoming familiar with the vast and timeless incisions this practice has produced in art, philosophy and popular culture.