League of Legends and Philosophy Can a Videogame Be a Sport? Roger Hunt Ever since the day when Plato was a wrestler (for realz!) people of philosophical persuasion have been thinking about what counts as a “sport.” The underlying assumption is that a sport requires a kind of physical exertion, tempered by moderation,…
Louis C.K. and Philosophy Calling Us on our Cognitive Dissonance Roben Torosyan Cognitive dissonance is always triggered by blatant evidence that you are not as beneficent and effective as you would like people to think. The urge to reduce it is the urge to get your self-serving story straight. (Pinker, 2009, p. 423) Most of…
The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Philosophy Let’s do the time warp again— By Jeffery L. Nicholas The Rocky Horror Picture Show is almost—almost—indescribable, unclassifiable. RHPS will celebrate its 40th birthday next year. After having a rough start, RHPS quickly developed cult status, and many of us, I am sure, have attended at least…
The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Philosophy: How Minnie Mouse Refutes Marxism by Jason Brennan Can the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a CGI-animated children’s s show, settle the debate between capitalists and socialists, once and for all? The great Marxist philosopher Gerald Cohen, in his recent book Why Not Socialism?, argues most of us are already committed…
Wheel of Time and Philosophy How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Originality and Love Robert Jordan Jacob M. Held Roughly six years ago, a friend of mine asked if I was familiar with the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I wasn’t, but I was informed by others that I should be. “Jake,…
John Candy and Philosophy Harry Crumb Meets Edmund Gettier David Kyle Johnson A friend of mine on Facebook (Chris Heimsoth) posted a request for his friends’ “favorite John Candy movie.” I immediately suggested Who’s Harry Crumb?, one of Candy’s lesser known comedies that I grew up on (because it happened to be on the same…
American Horror Story and Philosophy Can Horror Stories Have Happy Endings? Benjamin W. McCraw Unlike fairy tales, the protagonist of a horror story/movie doesn’t really live ‘happily ever after’ due to the carnage, death, and destruction often bobbing the wake of the struggle to survive the ordeal and slay the evil demon/ghost/monster/killer/alien/whatever. The hero/ine comes…
Queensrÿche and Philosophy The Metaphysics of Rock Groups William Irwin I’m going to see Queensrÿche in concert in July. Or am I? The band split into two Queensrÿches when the original lead singer, Geoff Tate, was fired in 2012. On April 17, 2014 the court ruled that the non-Tate version of the band has the…
True Detective and Philosophy The Light Is Winning Sarah K. Donovan It’s an understatement to say that Rustin Cohle is intense. The “tax man” sets himself apart from the norm and doesn’t shy away from speaking hard truths. Only Cohle would shut down his friend Hart’s emotional outpouring to him about his failing marriage with…
Weeds and Philosophy Pop Aesthetics and Grotesque Beauty Anna Faktorovich I watched all 8 seasons of Weeds on Netflix, and re-watched the first two seasons today, as I did my laundry, shopping and cooking, to grab the screenshots that follow and to refresh my memory for this article. The obvious angle to take on this…
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 