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 Übermensch and Overcoming Nihilism in The Umbrella Academy By Elysia Balavage We humans find fascination with those among us who are “extraordinary.” From tales spun about the classical Achilles to the modern Wonder Woman, narratives about individuals with extraordinary abilities have captivated our attention for centuries. The ubiquity of such stories these days…
Tove Jansson’s Moomins: Just Stories? Peter West In this short discussion of the Moomins and philosophy, I want to do two things. First, I want to point out some obvious instances of philosophy at work in the Moomins. Second, I want to suggest that the way Tove Jansson treats the relation between fiction and reality…
The Expanse and Philosophy “We Can Be Our Own Gods!” Jeffery L. Nicholas In Season 3 Episode 1, “Fight or Flight,” the crew of the Rocinante change the name of the ship, partly to disguise themselves, to the Pinus Contorta. Prax, the botanist they picked up on Tycho, believes the name is fitting; “Pinus…
Nietzsche and Slipknot Challenge You to All-Out Life Ashley L. Whitaker, Ph.D. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche introduces a blueprint of human spiritual transformation in the form of his allegory of the three metamorphoses, depicting a transition from camel to lion to child. Humans must begin like the submissive camel, weighed down with a heavy load of tradition, our…
A Philosophical Review of The Last Jedi Jason Eberl and Kevin Decker philosophize among the stars. WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS Read the full review at Philosophy Now. As all observers of a particular galaxy far, far away know, there has recently been another awakening in the Force: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. We reviewed Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Issue 115 of Philosophy…
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…
Eternal Return in The 100 Edwardo Pérez We have to let our children fail, make mistakes, fall down … don’t we? It doesn’t matter what we try to teach them, in the end, they have to learn on their own. We can guide them, offer advice, help them as best we can but we can’t…
Paradox of The Force III Rogue Redemption Edwardo Pérez Why do we need to be redeemed? What’s the point of redemption, atonement, or salvation? Why do things need to be made right? And, is one act enough to redeem a lifetime of doing wrong? Most religions incorporate redemption into the precepts of their respective faiths…
Learning from David Bowie “It was his life’s work to show us that we are unknown to ourselves, and that being thrown into question by this alien dimension of ourselves is really a message, as if from on high, that there is freedom and joy and perhaps even peace to be found in being otherwise…
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 