Bøger i Popular Culture and Philosophy serien

Philosophers debate how Orwell's nightmare world compares to today's world of political acrimony and discontent.

Who is the most truly heroic--Captain America or Iron Man? The writers in this book try to answer that question from many diverse viewpoints.

In The X-Files and Philosophy, thirty-six fearless philosophers seek for the truth which is out there, in here, at least somewhere, or (as the postmodernists claim) nowhere. One big issue is whether the weird and unexplained happenings, including the existence of entities unknown to traditional science, might really exist. And if they did, what would be the proper way to behave towards them? Some of these entities seem to flout conventional laws of nature-but perhaps we need to allow for different, as yet undiscovered, laws. If such fabulous entities really exist, what do we owe them? And if they don't exist, why do we imagine they do? In The X-Files, regular science is represented by Scully and usually turns out to be wrong, while open-minded credulity or pseudoscience is represented by Mulder and usually turns out to be right, or at least somehow on the right track. Scully demands objective, repeatable evidence, and she usually gets it, with Mulder's help, in astounding and unwelcome ways. What lessons should we take from the finding of The X-Files that respectable science is nearly always wrong and outrageous speculative imagination nearly always right?

The Man in the High Castle is an Amazon TV show, based on the Philip K. Dick novel, about an "alternate present" (beginning in the 1960s) in which Germany and Japan won World War II, with the former Western US occupied by Japan, the former Eastern U.S. occupied by Nazi Germany, and a small "neutral zone" between them. A theme of the story is that in this alternative world there is eager speculation, fueled by the illicit newsreel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, about how the world would have been different if America had won the war.In The Man in the High Castle and Philosophy, twenty-two professional thinkers look at philosophical issues raised by this ongoing enterprise in "alternative history." One question is whether it really made a profound difference that the Allies won the war, and exactly what differences in everyday life we may expect to arise from an apparent historical turning point. Could it be that some dramatic historical events have only superficial consequences, while some unnoticed occurrences lead to catastrophic results?Another topic is the quest for truth in a world of government misinformation, and how dissenting organizations can make headway.

Philosophers probe the popular TV spy show.

Deep thinkers plumb the chilling depths of American horror

Philosophical feedback on the messiah of electric rock

Mr. Robot has been hailed, not only as one of the most haunting and unnerving dramas ever to appear on television, but also as the first accurate popular presentation of how computer hacking and cyberterrorism actually work. Mr. Robot and Philosophy is aimed at thoughtful fans of this addictive show who will welcome the opportunity to explore Elliot Alderson''s world from a philosophical perspective.       The developing story of Mr. Robot constantly raises ethical and metaphysical issues. What happens to our personal identity when it’s extended into cyberspace and an array of electronic devices? Are we in control of our online lives or are we being controlled? What does our right to privacy mean in a world where millions of people can observe what we’re doing and saying? Is a virtual currency true money and could it replace traditional money? Can there be healthy forms of drug addiction? Can some types of so-called mental illness be useful and beneficial?       Does it make any sense to unleash destruction upon the existing corporate economic structures, and can we expect something better to emerge from the ruins of a digital meltdown?

Red Rising and Philosophy has gathered together a crew of the wisest Helldivers philosophy can offer. Could humanity's love of physical enhancements cause its extinction? Do people doom humanity by trying to all be the same? Can a person love someone, while at the same time wanting that person destroyed? Is equality always the best principle on which to organize society? What is evil, and how does it exist in contemporary life? Does one remain the same person, even after changing every physical aspect of one's body? Is it moral to sell oneself into slavery, whether it’s through sex or manual labor? Is it ethical to sell one's children into slavery, on the promise that their children will live in peace and tranquility?These questions and more are what make Brown’s Red Rising trilogy such an impactful story. Brown pulls no punches, and philosophy works best in such an environment. Red Rising and Philosophy is not for the timid or the faint at heart. It’s not The Passage, since no one will die from reading it, but reading it could be a life-changing experience.

Charlie Rose has called Louis C.K. “the philosopher-king of comedy,” and many have detected philosophical profundity in his material.Twenty-five philosophers examine the wisdom of Louis C.K. from a variety of philosophical perspectives. The chapters draw upon C.K.’s standup comedy, the show Louie, and C.K.’s other writings.One writer looks at the different meanings of C.K.’s statement, “You’re gonna be dead way longer than you were alive.” One chapter shows the affinity of C.K.’s “sick of living this bullshit life” with Kierkegaard’s “sickness unto death.” Another pursues Louis’s thought that we may by our lack of moral concern “live a really evil life without thinking about it.”C.K.''s insistence that “things that are not can’t be” points to the philosophical problem of nothingness in relation to being. His religion is “apathetic agnostic,” conveyed in his thought experiment that God began work in 1982. Louis’s argument that you can have the kind of body you want if you make yourself want a disgusting, shitty body, is the Stoic ethics of Epictetus. And, as C.K. has shown in so many ways, the fact that we’re soon going to die has its funny side.

If you know that someone is writing the script of your life, can you really be a hero? Deadpool is the super-anti-hero who knows he's in a comic book. His unique situation and blood-stained history give rise to many philosophical puzzles. Are his actions predetermined by the writers, or does he trick the writers into scripting his choices? And what happens when Deadpool breaks into the real world to kill the writers? Deadpool challenges us to think outside the box, and this collection of essays examines the profound implications of this most contradictory and perplexing comic book character.

In Discworld, unlike our own frustrating Roundworld, everything makes sense. The world is held up by elephants atop a swimming turtle, the sun goes around the world every day, and things always happen because someone intends them to happen. Millions of fans are addicted to Pratchett’s Discworld, and the interest has only intensified since Pratchett’s recent death and the release of his final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, in September 2015.The brave explorers of Discworld and Philosophy cover a lot of ground. From discussion of Moist von Lipwig’s con artistry showing the essential con of the financial system to the examination of everyone’s favorite Discworld character — the murderous luggage — to what the lawless Mac Nac Feegles tell us about civil government, Discworld and Philosophy gives an in-depth treatment of Pratchett’s magical universe. Other chapters examine the power of Discworld’s witches, the moral viewpoint of the golems, how William de Worde’s newspaper illuminates the issue of censorship, how fate and luck interact to shape our lives, and why the more straightforward Discworld characters are so much better at seeing the truth than those with enormous intellects but little common sense.

Hannibal Lecter, the subject of best-selling novels, movies, and the acclaimed TV series Hannibal, is one of pop culture's most compelling characters. In Hannibal Lecter and Philosophy, 16 philosophers come at Hannibal the way he comes at his victims - from unexpected angles and with plenty of surprises.What does the relationship between Hannibal and those who know him - particularly FBI investigator Will Graham - tell us about the nature of friendship? Does Hannibal confer benefits on society by eliminating people who don't live up to his high aesthetic standards? Can upsetting experiences in early childhood turn you into a serial killer? Why are we enthralled by someone who exercises god-like control over situations and people? Does it make any difference morally that a killer eats his victims? Can a murder be a work of art?Several chapters look at the mind of this proud and accomplished killer, psychiatrist, and gourmet cook. Is he a sociopath or a psychopath, or are these the same? Is he lacking in empathy? Does his moral blindness give him compensating abilities, the way literally blind people gain heightened senses? Does it harm us that we are drawn into Hannibal's world by identifying with him?

In Dracula and Philosophy 24 nocturnal philosophers stake out and vivisect Dracula from many angles.John C. Altmann decides whether Dracula can really be blamed for his crimes, since it’s his nature as a vampire to behave a certain way. Robert Arp argues that Dracula’s addiction to live human blood dooms him to perpetual frustration and misery. John V. Karavitis sees Dracula as a Randian individual pitted against the Marxist collective. Greg Littmann maintains that if we disapprove of Dracula’s behavior, we ought to be vegetarians. James Edwin Mahon uses the example of Dracula to resolve nagging problems about the desirability of immortality. Adam Barkman and Michael Versteeg ponder what it would really feel like to be Dracula, and thereby shed some light on the nature of consciousness. Robert Vuckovich looks at the sexual morality of Dracula and other characters in the Dracula saga. Ariane de Waal explains that “Dragula” is scary because every time this being appears, it causes “gender trouble.” And Cari Callis demonstrates that the Count is really the Jungian Shadow archetype — with added Shapeshifter elements — in the journey of Mina Harker, heroine/victim of Stoker''s novel, from silly girl to empowered woman.

From the early years, when he morphed from celebrated poet to provocative singer/songwriter, to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Leonard Cohen has endured as one of the most enigmatic and profound figures in all of popular music. With his uniquely compelling voice and unparalleled depth of artistic vision, the aesthetic quality and intellectual merit of Cohen’s work are above dispute; here, for the first time, a team of philosophers takes an in-depth look at its real significance.Want to know what Cohen and Kierkegaard have in common? Or whether Cohen rivals the great philosophical pessimist Schopenhauer? Then this book is for you. It provides the first thorough analysis of Cohen from various (philosophical) positions. It is intended not only for Cohen fans but also undergraduates in philosophy and other areas. It explores important neglected aspects of Cohen’s work without attempting to reduce them to academic tropes, yet nonetheless it is also useful to academics — or anyone — beguiled by the enigma that is Leonard Cohen.

More Doctor Who and Philosophy is a completely new collection of chapters, additional to Doctor Who and Philosophy (2010), by the same editors. Since that first Doctor Who and Philosophy, much has happened in the Whoniverse: a new and controversial regeneration of the Doctor, multiple new companions, a few creepy new enemies of both the Doctor and planet Earth.New questions have been raised and new questioners have come along, so there are plenty of new topics for philosophical scrutiny. Is the “impossible” girl really impossible? Is there anything wrong with an inter-species lesbian relationship (the kids weren’t quite ready for that in 1963, but no one blinks an eye in 2015)? Can it really be right for the Doctor to lie and to selectively forget? We even have two authors who have figured out how to build a TARDIS — instructions included!An added feature of this awesome new volume is that the editors have reached out to insiders of Who fandom, people who run hugely successful Who conventions, play in Who-inspired bands, and run wildly popular podcasts and websites, to share their privileged insights into why the Doctor is so philosophically deep.

This book has not been prepared, authorized, or endorsed by the creators or producers of "Justified."--Front cover.

In Homeland and Philosophy, 23 philosophers tackle the issues that Showtime's award-winning show Homeland asks us to consider. The drama, which centers on Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody's release from an al-Qaeda prison, and CIA Agent Carrie Mathison's distrust of his intentions, asks questions of identity, what it means to be a terrorist, the conditions and effects of brainwashing, lying for the greater good, and whether or not courage is a virtue.But these questions are only a few among many that are explored in the obscure, paranoid world of Homeland. Through the lenses of Rawls, Kant, Arendt, Foucault, Heidegger, Sartre, and Kierkegaard, among others, Homeland and Philosophy considers the ethics of drone warfare; whether or not Carrie Mathison's personality changes and psychological disorder make her an interesting character study in the metaphysics of personhood; at what point privacy is only an illusion; and concepts of torture, punishment, and discipline.

The drama-comedy Girls - often unfairly written off as Sex and the City for the millennial generation - has made TV history and provoked controversy for its pitilessly accurate portrayal of four oddly sympathetic twentysomething female characters, notable for their self-absorption, empathy deficits, and ineptitude with relationships. Among other breakthroughs, it is the first show to depict the sex act among the alienated young as nearly always awkward and unfulfilling. In Girls and Philosophy, a team of diverse, sensitive, empathic philosophers approach the world of Girls from a variety of angles and philosophical points of view. The writers attack many fascinating issues arising from Girls, including the meaning of authenticity in the 21st century, coming of age in a society with no clear guidelines, Girls as the only TV show the pop-culture-hating professor Theodor Adorno might have admired, feminist appraisals of these not-very-feminist characters, how each deals with the anxiety that comes from inescapable freedom, whether we need to amend the traditional list of seven deadly sins in the context of present-day New York, and, of course, why we once again find it natural to think of women in their early- to mid-twenties as "girls.?

In The Good Wife and Philosophy, fifteen philosophers look at the deeper issues raised by this stirring TV drama. The Good Wife gives us courtroom battles in the tradition of Perry Mason, with the added dimension of a political intrigue and a tormented personal story. We witness the interplay between common morality and legal correctness; sometimes following one violates the other. Lawyers operate within the law and within legal ethics, yet routinely do harmful things in pursuit of their clients' interests. The adversarial system leads to such strategies as stringing out a case to exhaust the other side's resources and bringing suits ostensibly because of wrongdoing by defendants but really to curtail the defendants as a competitive threat to some important client's interest.The idea for The Good Wife came from the recurring news drama of wives standing by their husbands when scandal breaks: the wives of Bill Clinton, Elliott Spitzer, and John Edwards. Often these politicians' spouses are themselves lawyers who have had to cope with the gray areas of legal battles and maneuvering. Following her husband's disgrace and imprisonment, Alicia Florrick has to return to the law, which she abandoned for the sake of being a full-time wife and mother.

Steve Jobs represents a whole range of values and ideas in pluralistic American culture. He was a barefoot hippy capitalist who did more to change our everyday lives than anyone since Thomas Edison. Coming from modest means and education, he revolutionized several key industries and became fantastically wealthy.In Steve Jobs and Philosophy 16 philosophers examine the inspiring yet often baffling world of Steve Jobs. What can we learn about business ethics from his example? What are the major virtues of a creative innovator? How could Jobs defy conventional business practices? How did he combine values and attitudes previously believed to be unmixable? What does it really mean to “think different”? Can entrepreneurs be made or are they just born? If Jobs didn’t make any major inventions, what was his contribution? What does Jobs teach us about the notions of simplicity and functionality in design? How do Jobs’s achievements alter the way we think about technology in relation to human life?Steve Jobs and Philosophy covers vital issues in ethics, business, aesthetics, and technology. It includes a fascinating appendix listing all the philosophers mentioned in the book, along with explanations of their lives and key themes in their thoughts.

Twenty-one philosophers investigate the implications of the Jurassic Park franchise for our lives, our values, and our future. Human beings live and thrive by modifying nature, but when do the risks of changing nature outweigh the likely benefits?

Offers a sympathetic, philosophical look at the supervillains. This title delves into the dark nature of supervillainy, examines the boundaries of good and evil, offers helpful advice to prospective supervillains, and untangles diabolical puzzles of identity and consciousness.

Brings together over thirty philosophers to engage in wide-ranging discussion on the troubling, exciting, and fascinating issues raised in and amidst the excitement and fear of Orson Scott Card's novels and Gavin Hood's film.