Supernatural and Philosophy 10 Years, 200 episodes, and Millions of Fans Supernatural and the Social Contract By Jillian L. Canode The 2014 fall television season marked the beginning of the 10th year of Supernatural. Despite the show’s longevity and fans who are über devoted to it, many people still say, “I’ve never heard of…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 43,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 16 sold-out performances for that many…
Unbroken Hope The Existentialism of Louis Zamperini By William Irwin (NOTE: This article was previously published via Psychology Today) If you’re one of the millions who have read Unbroken, then you already know. If you don’t already know, then you’ll know soon enough when the film version of Unbroken is released on Christmas day. It’s an incredible story…
Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy Female Violence, Feminist Care By Leigh Kolb Sons of Anarchy revolves around the chaotic yet highly methodical world of a motorcycle club and the forces around them—from law enforcement and crooked cops to gangs and organized crime rings. The entire series focuses on politics, power, violence, and authority in incredibly…
“At the end of the day, the bad guys lose” Jax Teller as a Tragic Hero By Jason Eberl In calling Jax Teller a “tragic hero” we need to parse out carefully what each of these words means in this context. Some may balk at the notion that there’s anything “tragic” about Jax’s death in…
Her and Philosophy By Gina Zavota The 2013 Spike Jonze film Her tells the story of Theodore Twombly, a lonely introvert going through a difficult divorce in a near-future Los Angeles. He works as a letter-writer for people who are unable to express their feelings and lives a somewhat solitary life, until he purchases…
Interstellar and Philosophy The Ethics of Space Colonization By Lance Belluomini The highly anticipated Sci-Fi movie Interstellar opened worldwide on November 7th. I couldn’t wait to experience the movie for myself on opening day. And I did, on the largest film format there is—70mm IMAX. I wasn’t disappointed. If nothing else, Interstellar contains the…
Minecraft and Philosophy Edited by Ian Schnee The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series Please circulate and re-post widely 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. Submission Guidelines: Submission deadline for abstracts (100-500 words) and…
Philosophically Animating Christmas by David Kyle Johnson Christmas time is upon us again and so it’s once again the time for the animated Christmas special. Things have changed considerably in the 50 years since the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer animated special originally aired. Indeed, many animated Christmas specials today are irreverent and profane; but they…
Grunge and Philosophy What Nirvana Can Teach Us about the Philosophy of History By Micah Tillman Prelude: Epochal Boundary-Markings “The new millennium doesn’t start till 2001,” my classmate told me in the dining hall. “There was no year 0, so every century and millennium begins on a ‘1’.” I found that argument annoying in 1999,…
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