Review of Lego and Philosophy All in all, it’s not just another brick in the toy chest. At least that’s the conclusion you might reach after reading a new book coedited by University of Minnesota philosophy professor Roy T. Cook titled “LEGO and Philosophy: Constructing Reality Brick by Brick.” Cook and co-editor Sondra Bacharach, a…
Matthew Westfox I was excited to read Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian Mystique because it promised the chance to dive neck deep into that conversations. It did not disappoint. It is fitting for a character who has spoken in so many different voices over the years, that this book is a collection of essays by…
Live Forward Luke Cage and Frantz Fanon By Muoki Musau and Matthew William Brake While viewers familiar with the Jessica Jones Netflix series met Luke Cage in that show, Cage’s own series begins with him working in a barber shop in Harlem, owned by a respected man in the community everyone refers to as Pop.…
How We Remain Free Why Kingdom Come is More Relevant than Ever by Armond Boudreaux A Book for Today Superhero comics have always reflected upon the values, beliefs, aspirations, and fears of our culture. Since the beginning they’ve commented upon what it means to be human and spoken to the particular problems of our times.…
From Facehuggers to Thought-Provokers by Ray Blank Like the films which are its inspiration, Alien and Philosophy: I Infest, Therefore I Am is not a book for the fainthearted. It may be the latest in a successful series that draws on popular culture to explore philosophical concepts, but the writers broach ideas that stretch in many different directions.…
The Philosophy of the Alien Films: Interview with Jeffrey A. Ewing by Ray Blank Released in 1979, Ridley Scott’s Alien combined H.R. Giger’s disturbing aesthetics with a tremendous cast, most of whom were viciously slaughtered before the film was done. Alien pulled off the trick of adding new ingredients to a rich tradition in storytelling, reimagining a classic horror scenario…
Freedom and Imprisonment Jessica Jones and Simone de Beauvior By Jennifer Anvari and Matthew William Brake Marvel’s Netflix series Jessica Jones is a story about what binds us and what makes us free. As a low-key superhero, Jessica works as a private investigator in a sketchy neighborhood, using her powers primarily to access fire escapes…
What Video Games can Teach us about Philosophy Philosophers have long used thought experiments to explore ethical dilemmas. But now video games are allowing us to act out these scenarios, writes Jordan Erica Webber. Read the whole article here.
Sophie’s Other Choices Edwardo Pérez NPR’s “Think” podcast recently featured Binghamton University philosophy professor Lisa Tessman discussing “Impossible Moral Dilemmas” and I just happened to tune in as a caller to the program asked about the film Sophie’s Choice. Full disclosure: I’ve always avoided seeing that movie because its premise was so horrifying to me,…
Nietzschean Revenge in Game of Thrones Edwardo Pérez “If given the opportunity, what do we do to those who hurt the ones we love?” While Lord Petyr Baelish (also known as Littlefinger) posed this question to Sansa in the fourth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones (in the episode titled “Mockingbird”), it’s a perfect summation…
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 