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.

Watch the whole video at @Google Talks.

The editors behind “Arrested Development and Philosophy” have no reason to believe they’ve made a huge mistake.

The television show about a dysfunctional, narcissistic Orange County family on the verge of falling apart after patriarch George Bluth is arrested has earned critical acclaim and an ardent audience since its debut in 2003. While attempts to “Save our Bluths” failed and the show’s initial run ended in 2006 after just three seasons, the promise of episodes and a movie complement this month’s release of “Arrested Development and Philosophy,” part of the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series published by John Wiley & Sons Inc.

“It’s a cult following, but the people who know it are devoted, and embedded in it,” said series editor and King’s professor William Irwin. “The fans really are devoted because they feel they got a raw deal (with the show’s cancellation.)”

Read the whole article at The Citizen’s Voice.

How do you watch your favorite television show? We have so many options that we need to ask: which way of viewing is best? For some time we have been able to videotape our favorite shows and watch them when it is convenient for us, but now it’s even easier with DVR (TiVo). Still, other ways of watching television have also become popular. If you don’t have DVR you can legally or, more often, illegally download shows from the internet and watch them on your computer. Also, these days, nearly any TV show worth its salt is released on DVD.

In fact, I’ve particularly enjoyed watching certain shows on DVD, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example. I was late catching on to Buffy, which was in its fifth season before I saw my first episode. But thanks to DVD I caught up in a hurry. In fact, watching the first two seasons of Buffy on DVD was one of the best viewing experiences I’ve ever had. In the evening my wife and I would sit on the couch and watch episode after episode; we couldn’t wait for the next one. I can’t imagine we would have enjoyed the show nearly as much if we had to wait a week between episodes and then months between seasons. The horror!

Read the whole post at Psychology Today.

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.

Lou Reed and Metallica have just released an album together. The question is why? When Cliff Burnstein (of Q Prime Management) suggested Metallica jam with Lou Reed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden in October 2009, both sides were unexcited about the collaboration. The guys in Metallica weren’t fans of Lou Reed or The Velvet Underground, and Lou Reed seemed to look at Metallica as if they were the stereotypical knuckle-dragging airheads who just turn their amps up to 11. But Cliff Burnstein was right. When Metallica backed Lou Reed for performances of “Sweet Jane” and “White Light / White Heat” there was genuine musical chemistry. As the musicians parted ways later that evening, Reed suggested they do an album together. Now, much to everyone’s surprise, they have.

So why does this unlikely pairing work? I don’t think that Lou and the Metalli-guys even know, except to say it feels right. But here’s why I think it works. Both Lou Reed and Metallica are prime examples of existentialism. What’s that? It’s notoriously difficult to define, but here’s a definition anyway: Existentialism is a philosophy that reacts to an absurd or meaningless world by urging individuals to overcome alienation, oppression, and despair through freedom and self-creation. As discussed in my book, Metallica and Philosophy, Metallica express existentialist themes with lyrics focusing on death, anxiety, freedom, and authenticity. Reed’s lyrics likewise reflect individual experience with alienation, transgressive sexuality, and drug culture.

Read the whole post at Psychology Today.

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:

Direwolves, dragons, and the Others: Metaphysics and the strange creatures of Westeros; What’s so bad about incest? The strange relationship of Jaime and Cersei Lannister; Maesters and Septons: Does science conflict with religion? “Winter is coming”: Seasons that last for years and the nature of space and time; The moral luck of Tyrion Lannister; What would Ned Stark do? Virtue ethics and moral exemplars; Bastards and cripples, dwarfs and kings: the nature of the self; Why don’t the gods ever help out? Melisandre and the problem of evil; The things I do for love: Jaime Lannister’s view of morality; Do’s and Don’ts at Dothraki Weddings: Is Morality relative?; “See with your eyes.” Zen and the Art of Water Dancing; Was Robert right to usurp the throne from Mad King Aerys?; Jon and Sam: An Aristotelian analysis of the Night’s Watch and the nature of friendship; The Wildings and Hobbes’ state of nature; Are Machiavellian virtues a necessary evil when you play the game of thrones?; There is no Dothraki word for ‘thank you’: Language and reality; Hinduism and the Seven Faces of God; The Wights beyond the Wall: Are zombies possible?; Subjectivity and the Mind-Body problem: What is it like to be a dragon?; How should we choose our leaders? The kings of Westeros vs. Plato’s Republic; Is “the King’s justice” really justice?; The old gods or the new gods: Is faith in any of them justified?; Queens, whores, and tomboys: Fantasy mores and feminist ideals; Is Daenerys a Nietzschean Superwoman?; Do Direwolves have souls? A Cartesian analysis of the brutes; Incest, bastards, and secret identities: Is keeping secrets to protect your family ethical?; Isn’t the Night’s Watch more like a penal colony? Who do we want protecting us anyway?; Plato’s Ring of Gyges and the immoralist’s question: Why should I be moral if I have dragons?; Valar morghulis, valar dohaeris (Every man must die, but first we must live): The meaning of life in the Seven Kingdoms; “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” The nature of knowledge and the limits of empiricism; Paganism and the Old Gods in Winterfell; No exit for Sansa Stark: A Sartrean analysis; From Arya to Cat of the Canals: Description vs. Causal theories of proper names; Greensight, dreams, and prophecy: Destiny vs. Free will; Do Bran and Summer share their consciousness? The problem of Personal Identity; Martial arts and the virtues of Arya Stark, Brienne of Tarth, and the Kingslayer; If Daenerys frees slaves, why does she keep the Unsullied?; Aristotelian virtues in Littlefinger and the Lannisters: Intelligence or practical wisdom?; Traitors and turncoats: The Kingslayer, Barriston Selmy, and Theon Greyjoy; Master morality and slave morality: Nietzsche looks at the citizens of Westeros
*While most topics listed here emphasize the first book and television series, contributions dealing with characters and events of later books are welcome as well.

You can submit an abstract at the And Philosophy website.

How do you watch your favorite television show? We have so many options that we need to ask: which way of viewing is best? For some time we have been able to videotape our favorite shows and watch them when it is convenient for us, but now it’s even easier with DVR (TiVo). Still, other ways of watching television have also become popular. If you don’t have DVR you can legally or, more often, illegally download shows from the internet and watch them on your computer. Also, these days, nearly any TV show worth its salt is released on DVD.

In fact, I’ve particularly enjoyed watching certain shows on DVD, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example. I was late catching on to Buffy, which was in its fifth season before I saw my first episode. But thanks to DVD I caught up in a hurry. In fact, watching the first two seasons of Buffy on DVD was one of the best viewing experiences I’ve ever had. In the evening my wife and I would sit on the couch and watch episode after episode; we couldn’t wait for the next one. I can’t imagine we would have enjoyed the show nearly as much if we had to wait a week between episodes and then months between seasons. The horror!

Read the whole post at Psychology Today.

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.

On October 19, 2007, before a packed audience at Carnegie Hall in New York City, J. K. Rowling made a remarkable announcement. In response to a question about whether Dumbledore had ever been in love, she announced that she had “always thought of Dumbledore as gay.”

Responses fell into three categories. Some readers were delighted by the news. Others were dismayed. But the most interesting type of response was the third. These readers responded to the declaration by challenging Rowling’s authorial authority. “Unless she decides to write Book Eight, Ms. Rowling has missed her chance to impart any new information about any of the Harry Potter characters. If the series is truly at an end, then the author no longer possesses the authority to create new thoughts, feelings, and realities for those characters,” wrote one reader.

What we face here is a version of what philosophers call the problem of truth in fiction. Are there facts about what is true in the world of a story, and if so, what determines those facts? We can start with a simple two-part proposal: what’s true in the world of Harry Potter are (a) all and (b) only those things that appear on 4,100 pages that together compose the Harry Potter volumes.

Read the full chapter at The Philosophers’ Magazine.