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# SMC: The final frontier
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/smc-the-final-frontier/
- Published: 2002-06-06T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:19:15.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

A Santa Monica College class is about to go where none of its classes have gone before.

The college will offer students a three-credit course that explores the philosophical underpinnings of Star Trek.

Professors Amber Katherine and Jim Stramel will draw on episodes from the hit science fiction television show ranging from its earliest days to the more recent episodes.

And then there’s always the movies. “The ‘Star Trek’ series is based on a sound understanding of the issues of western philosophy, which is what makes it such a fantastic teaching tool,” said Katherine. “Philosophy is abstract, so this makes it real.”

Students will view the episodes and snippets from the movies during class. The viewings will serve as the jumping-off point for wide-ranging philosophical discussions and writing assignments on knowledge, reality, ethics and politics, the professors say.

Stramel and Katherine cite the example of an episode in which the Star Fleet Command wants to dismantle Data, an android character, to try to replicate Data’s unique properties and create valuable new androids.

But USS Enterprise Captain Picard and the crew resist, arguing that Data is a person and has a right to “live.”

“This episode raises metaphysical questions about what constitutes ‘personhood’ and related questions about the rights that go with it,” Stramel said.

The course will be offered on Thursdays from 6:45 p.m. to 9:50 p.m. starting on Aug. 26\. Registration begins next month.

Stramel, who received his Ph.D. from USC, has been teaching at SMC since 1992, and Katherine, who earned her Ph.D. from Michigan State University, has been teaching at SMC since 1999.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 6, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060602.pdf?ref=smdp.com)