Filed under: Call for Papers, Cinema, Leads, Media, Philosophy, Publications
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
Since a kindly soul has uploaded it to YouTube, I’m pleased to be able to bring you a recent BBC documentary on Sartre.
Scientology has been in the news more often than usual this week thanks to the Panorama controversy. Most people are of the impression that it is a celebrity cult, but don’t know much about the beliefs that Scientologists hold. This is understandable, given the lengths that they go to to control the dissemination of their creed since one must pay as much as $100,000 to learn its secrets. Fortunately, the guys at South Park have provided a condensed version. This really makes things a lot clearer.
In this video, Jürgen Habermas outlines the broad contours of his work (deliberative democracy and communicatve rationality). The discussion isn’t very theoretical, but certainly gives a flavour of the Habermasian project.
American politics needs more Republicans like this. Ron Paul is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative who is one of the most outspoken of the Republicans against the war. He offers a number of robust constitutionalist arguments against U.S. foreign policy.
The more impotent democrats could learn a lot from this guy, that’s for sure. One wonders, though, whether he’ll have enough support within his own party for his presidental bid.
Who ever would have thought that this footage existed? Assuming it is authentic, it has a rather macabre feel…Just in case you were wondering, this is Nietzsche toward the end. I’m not sure why Einstein pops up at the end of the clip.
I don’t think it’s accurate to describe Zizek as “a Dennis Leary from Slovenia”.
Lacanian musings from Žižek, who claims to be a Hegelian in the way he watches films: i.e. he “sacrifices the movie” for the real experience… whatever that means.
Excerpt from an old documentary about Heidegger; in German with French subtitles.
