Minecraft and Philosophy Kierkegaard Would Play Hardcore Mode by Ian Schnee Diamonds Aren’t Forever Minecraft is a building game: you place blocks, pistons, stairs, and electric wire to construct anything imaginable, from Gothic fortresses to carnival rollercoasters. In creative mode you have unlimited access to building materials, but in survival mode the player has…
Guardians of the Galaxy and Philosophy “We are Groot! Jeffery L. Nicholas Guardians of the Galaxy! What a film. Packed with action, story, special effects, humor, and a walking, talking tree. Much press release and on-line babble treated GotG as another super-hero movie, but I think the movie makes clear that, it’s, not a…
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 world has elected its first heavy metal president, Indonesia’s Joko Widodo—a man who proudly turns it up to 11 when playing Metallica. Some may see this as the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine about the prospects of a headbanger in chief. Despite misperceptions, metal has had an…
24 and Philosophy Jack Bauer and Margot Al-Harazi on “What Must Be Done” by Chandler Brett 24: Live Another Day revives the formulas that made the first seasons of the show successful, yet the writers have placed these familiar themes in new contexts, keeping the story thrilling and thought-provoking, despite some predictability. One of the…
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…
By William Irwin I’ve just finished binge-watching 3 seasons of Scandal. It’s the most addictive show I’ve seen in a long time, even more addictive than House of Cards. But whereas House of Cards is perfect for an “and Philosophy” book, Scandal is not. At least, I don’t think it is. House of Cards is outrageous,…
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,…
I don’t know if this video was really made by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. But even if it wasn’t, it’s a pretty funny accompaniment to Alan Watts. You might also like: View the complete list of books:
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 