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CALL FOR PAPERS

The Philosophy of J. J. Abrams
Edited by Patricia Brace and Robert Arp

University Press of Kentucky’s The Philosophy of Popular Culture
Series: http://www.kentuckypress.com/newsite/pages/series/series_philosophy.html

Abrams’ filmography from the Internet Movie Database can be found here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009190/

Please send these two things to Patricia Brace at: pat.brace@smsu.edu,  by January 1, 2010: (1) A short, no more than 100 word abstract of a  chapter you would like to write for the book. In the abstract, you could simply say something like, “In this paper I will argue X. First, I will do A…  Then, I will do B… Finally, I will do C…”(2) A short CV that has your
contact info (email, phone), affiliation, and a few publications, if you have any. Again, send these two things to Patricia Brace at: pat.brace@smsu.edu, by January 1, 2010

Here are possible topics, but any related topic will be considered:

LOGIC
• The Logic Daniel Faraday Utilizes to understand the Island
• Fallacious Reasoning Utilized by Abrams’ Characters
• Feminist Logic Utilized by Abrams’ Characters

METAPHYSICS
• Eastern Philosophical Themes in Abrams’ Work
• The Place of God in Abrams’ Work
• Lost, Inadvertent Actions, and Fate/Determinism
• Lost and Time Travel
• Alias, Personal Identity, and Identity over Time
• Benjamin on Lost and the Distinction between Psychopathology and a Healthy Personality
• Fringe and the Definition of Conscious States
• Felicity and Philosophies of Love and Friendship
• Catharsis in the Human Psyche and Abrams’ Characters
• Cloverfield, First-Person Perspectives, and the Nature of Consciousness
• Cloverfield and the Conditions and Criteria for Living Things

EPISTEMOLOGY
• Lost and the Nature of Deception
• The Belief Systems of Paranoid People
• There are Two Spocks: Perceiver and Perception in Abrams’ Works
• Conflicting Testimony and Justification for Claims in Abrams’ Works
• Sydney Bristow, Alias, Sense, and Reference
• Locke’s Empiricism and the Island as Tabula Rasa on Lost

ETHICS
• Sayid and the Ethics of Torture on Lost
• Felicity, Virtue Ethics, and Parental Role Models
• Sawyer, Juliet, Kate and Jack: Free Love, and the Ethics of Sex on Lost
• Fringe and “If Science Can Do It, Then Science Ought To Do It”
• Jacob and the Idea that Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
• Why Daniel Faraday had to Die: Utilitarian Reasons for Maintaining
the Fabric of Time
• Utilitarian vs. Deontological Approaches in Abrams’ Work

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
• Film as an Essential Medium for Public Discussion
• Sydney Bristow and the Public’s Obsession with Superheroes
• Massive Dynamics and the Nature of Law on Fringe
• The Nature of Justice in Abram’s Star Trek
• Different Types of Freedom Espoused by Abrams’ Characters