Plato and the Groundhog Michael Ventimiglia People are always surprised when I mention my favorite holiday. There’s no party in Times Square. No fireworks or barbeques. It doesn’t come with presents. It’s the sort of day you forget about until someone reminds you, and then you forget about it again. But, for me, it’s my…
Red Dwarf and the Gift of Life by Zoran Kojcic Red Dwarf is a British sci-fi sitcom that follows the adventures of the last human being in the universe, David Lister. Because he was being held in suspended animation as a punishment, Lister survived a massive accident on a mining space ship, Red Dwarf. After…
Confucius, Nietzsche, and Wolf Totem: The Culture of the Wolf versus the Civilization of Sheep George A. Dunn We have learned differently. We have become more modest in every way. We no longer derive man from “the spirit” or “the deity,” we have placed him back among the animals. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist…
Read what Kevin Decker and Jason Eberl, the editors of The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy, have to say about The Force Awakens at the Daily Nous. Click here to read all about it.
Charlie Brown and Existentialism Check out this article about Peanuts and existentialism published by Vanity Fair. It’s pretty good, but the focus on Kierkegaard misses the more important existentialist connections. I would have liked to read a discussion of the Great Pumpkin and Waiting for Godot. And what about The Myth of Sisyphus and Charlie…
Black Mirror, “Be Right Back,” and Philosophy Matteo Grasso Black Mirror is without a doubt one of the most philosophical TV series of the last decade. Like a modern day Twilight Zone, every episode has a different cast and a different setting. “Be Right Back” tells the story of a woman’s grief for the…
Inside Out and Philosophy What Does it Mean to be Okay? By Roberto Sirvent and Duncan Reyburn Pixar’s Inside Out (2015) hinges on a tough adjustment faced by eleven-year-old Riley when her parents decide to move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco. This is a very simple event, a change from one place…
Here’s something to read while you wait for your copy of The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy to arrive from Amazon. Could the Jedi be the bad guys? Jonathan V. Last thinks so. Click here for 9 reasons to answer yes.
Beavis and Butt-head Take Over Silicon Valley At Mises.org Paul Cantor discusses Silicon Valley, the new show from the Creator of Beavis and Butt-head. Click here to read all about it.
Over at Mises.org Jonathan Newman takes up an issue that will be discussed in The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy (to be published in 2016). Click here to read “Star Trek is Wrong: There Will Always be Scarcity.”
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 