December 28, 2011
“Inception and Philosophy: Taking a Leap of Faith” on Psychology Today
In this edition of series editor William Irwin and editor David Kyle Johnson’s “Plato on Pop” column:
In my last entry, I pointed out that we all simply have to take a leap of faith when we believe that the world is real, and not a dream. The leap of faith was a large part of the work of the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, and is also a reoccurring theme in the movie Inception. My chapter, in my book Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream (published by Wiley-Blackwell) considers this question: When should we take a leap of faith?
Faith is often heralded as a virtue, something noble, something you should have. But clearly this is not always true. In the movie, Cobb asks Mal and Saito to take a leap of faith-to believe that their world is not real and to kill themselves so they can wake up. Cobb takes a leap of faith to believe that Saito can deliver on his promise to get Cobb’s charges dismissed. Yet when Mal asks Cobb to take a leap of faith-out of his hotel window-he doesn’t. And we don’t think he should; we don’t’ think it’s a good idea. (Although, if they were dreaming…) So, obviously, we don’t think that faith is always virtuous. It’s not always something you should have or act on.
Read the whole post at Psychology Today.
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December 25, 2011
Kyle Johnson ‘Inception and Philosophy’ on Authors@Google
Watch editor Kyle Johnson discuss Inception and Philosophy:
Watch the whole video at @Google Talks.
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November 8, 2011
“Inception and Philosophy: Did the Spinning Top Fall?” on Psychology Today
In this edition of series editor William Irwin and editor David Kyle Johnson’s “Plato on Pop” column:
The movie Inception still fascinates me; I suppose that is why my colleague (and co-blogger) William Irwin asked me to edit the Wiley/Blackwell Pop Culture series book on the movie—Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream. The book came out this month and my Pop Culture and Philosophy class is about to dive into it. As a result I’ve really got Inception on the brain and I’d like to do a few posts on it. Although it’s been about a year and half since the movie was released in theaters, people are still talking about it—so I’d like to start out by settling a debate over a question that overtook the internet in the summer of 2010, and is still alive and well today:
Did the top fall?
Read the whole post at Psychology Today.
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February 28, 2011
“Inception Wins Plato’s Academy Award” on Psychology Today
Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series editor William Irwin and Heroes and Philosophy editor David Kyle Johnson have a post on their Psychology Today blog called “Inception Wins Plato’s Academy Award”:
Inception has been nominated in eight Oscar categories, including best picture. Unfortunately, it won’t win. The Hollywood crowd just doesn’t appreciate philosophy. But, if they gave an Oscar for philosophical depth, call it “Plato’s Academy Award,” Inception would take home the statue. (It would look like Rodin’s The Thinker.) In fact, there’s so much philosophical fodder in the film that we’re working on a new book, Inception and Philosophy.
Read the whole post at Psychology Today.
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August 16, 2010
Announcing Inception and Philosophy
We’re very pleased to announce the newest title in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, Inception and Philosophy. The science fiction thriller, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, took the #1 box office spot for three weeks after its release. The complex, mind-altering plot and stunning visuals make it popular among viewers and a natural fit for And Philosophy.
Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader. Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.
Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:
- “Their dream has become their reality”: Inception and Nozick’s Experience Machine
- “How did you get here?” Can We Tell if We are Dreaming?
- Your Very Own Token: Solving the Skeptical Problem with a Spinning Top
- “They come to be woken up”: If Life is a Dream, Does it Matter?
- Living in Limbo: Convenient Dreams vs. Inconvenient Reality
- Is That Your Idea? A New Kind of Skeptical Problem
- Self, Mind, and Free Will: Could Your Brain be an Inceptor?
- Is the top still spinning? Does an Author’s Intent Matter?
- “An idea is like a virus”: The Power of Ideas
- “Take a leap of faith”: Is it Ever Acceptable to Believe without Evidence?
- “Only a fraction of our brain’s potential”: Separating Myth from Reality
- Penrose Steps: The Possibility of Paradox
- Real Life Inception: The Challenge of Changing People’s Minds
- “Your mind is the scene of the crime”: The Ethics of Inception
- What is a Dream Made Of? The Nature of Mind
- Is Shared Dreaming Possible? The Problem of Neural Interpretation
- Shared Dreaming and the Problem of Other Minds
- The Nature of Free Will: Inception in Frankfurt-style Counterexamples
- Could Cobb be Insane? Demons, Dreamers & Madmen
- The Nature of Time: Time Moves More Slowly, the Further Down You Go
- Populating a Dream with Your Sub-conscious: Split Minds and Personal Identity
You can submit an abstract at the And Philosophy website.
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