The essay below originally appears as Chapter 6 of The Witcher and Philosophy, edited by Matthew Brake and Kevin S. Decker. Compatibilism and the Law of Surprise: Myth, Free Will, Destiny, and Hedgehogs Shane J. Ralston “The Law of Surprise is a law as old as humanity itself. The law dictates that a man saved by…
Graduate Student Conference Pop Culture and Philosophy Keynote Speaker: William Irwin, King’s College April 12, 2025 The graduate students of the UAlbany Philosophy department are proud to announce that the topic of The 17th Annual UAPA Grad Student Conference is Pop Culture and Philosophy. All are invited and the conference is open to the public.…
A philosophical exploration of Joker and the meaning of the iconic antagonist’s murderous escapades A diabolically sinister but clownish villain, Joker is a symbolically rich and philosophically fascinating character. Both crazed and cunning, sadistically cruel but seductively charming, the Clown Prince of Crime embodies everything opposed to the positive ideals of order and justice defended…
Beyond Human Nietzschean Reflections in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant Mitchell Provow To ground this exploration, we begin by considering Nietzsche’s reflections on creation and kinship from Twilight of the Idols (1889): “‘Why so hard?’ The kitchen coal once said to the diamond ‘After all, are we not close kin?’” This is a profound reflection on…
The essay below originally appears as Chapter 8 of Joker and Philosophy. You Get What You F****** Deserve Greg Littmann Joker: “What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash?…You get what you fucking deserve.” [Shoots Murray] There’s something satisfying about watching Joker…
The essay below appears originally as Chapter 1 in Taylor Swift and Philosophy. Is Taylor Swift a Philosopher? Catherine M. Robb After being awarded an honorary doctorate by New York University (NYU) in 2022, Taylor Swift gave a commencement speech for the graduates. During her speech Taylor spoke of the exciting challenge of figuring out who…
D&D and Philosophy A Philosophical Analysis of Intelligence and Wisdom Justin Kitchen Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game that anyone can play using a pencil, paper, dice, and their imagination. During the game, players navigate their characters through a fantastic world to fight monsters, investigate mysteries, solve puzzles, delve into political intrigue, and hunt…
The essay below appears as Chapter 3 of The Last of Us and Philosophy. “He Who Fights with Monsters” Inner-Circle vs The World in The Last of Us Dylan Skurka Ellie: If you don’t think there’s hope for the world, why bother going on? I mean, you gotta try, right? Joel: You haven’t seen the…
The essay below appears as Chapter 2 of The Last of Us and Philosophy. Justifying Joel: In Defense of Love and Favoritism Daniel Irwin and William Irwin “To me, he did the right thing for him,” video game and show co-creator Neil Druckman said in an interview with Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times.…
Fallout and Philosophy Call for Abstracts Edited by Nathan Kellen, Nate Sheff, and Joshua Heter The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series Please circulate and post widely. Apologies for cross-posting. To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact the Series Editor, William Irwin, williamirwin@kings.edu Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.…
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 