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Ten Things Video Games Can Teach Us: (about life, philosophy and everything)
Ten Things Video Games Can Teach Us: (about life, philosophy and everything) in Bloomington, MN
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WOULD YOU KILL ONE PERSON TO SAVE FIVE OTHERS?
If you could upload all of your memories into a machine, would that machine be you? Is it possible we're all already artificial intelligences, living inside a simulation?
These sound like questions from a philosophy class, but in fact they're from modern, popular video games. Philosophical discussion often uses thought experiments to consider ideas that we can't test in real life, and media like books, films, and games can make these thought experiments far more accessible to a non-academic audience. Thanks to their interactive nature, video games can be especially effective ways to explore these ideas.
Each chapter of this book introduces a philosophical topic through discussion of relevant video games, with interviews with game creators and expert philosophers. In ten chapters, this book demonstrates how video games can help us to consider the following questions:
1. Why do video games make for good thought experiments? (From the ethical dilemmas of the
Mass Effect
series to 'philosophy games'.)
2. What can we actually know? (From why Phoenix Wright is right for the wrong reasons to whether
No Man's Sky
is a lie.)
3. Is virtual reality a kind of reality? (On whether VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive deal in mass-market hallucination.)
4. What constitutes a mind? (From the souls of
Beyond: Two Souls
to the synths of
Fallout 4
.)
5. What can you lose before you're no longer yourself? (Identity crises in the likes of
The Swapper
and
BioShock Infinite
6. Does it mean anything to say we have choice? (Determinism and free will in
Bioshock
,
Portal 2
Deus Ex
7. What does it mean to be a good or dutiful person? (Virtue ethics in the
Ultima
series and duty ethics in
Planescape: Torment
8. Is there anything better in life than to be happy? (Utilitarianism in
Bioshock 2
Harvest Moon
10. How should we be governed, for whom and by who? (Government and rights in
Eve Online
Crusader Kings
Democracy 3
Fable 3
11. Is it ever right to take another life? And how do we cope with our own death? (The Harm Thesis and the good death in
To The Moon
Lost Odyssey.
)
If you could upload all of your memories into a machine, would that machine be you? Is it possible we're all already artificial intelligences, living inside a simulation?
These sound like questions from a philosophy class, but in fact they're from modern, popular video games. Philosophical discussion often uses thought experiments to consider ideas that we can't test in real life, and media like books, films, and games can make these thought experiments far more accessible to a non-academic audience. Thanks to their interactive nature, video games can be especially effective ways to explore these ideas.
Each chapter of this book introduces a philosophical topic through discussion of relevant video games, with interviews with game creators and expert philosophers. In ten chapters, this book demonstrates how video games can help us to consider the following questions:
1. Why do video games make for good thought experiments? (From the ethical dilemmas of the
Mass Effect
series to 'philosophy games'.)
2. What can we actually know? (From why Phoenix Wright is right for the wrong reasons to whether
No Man's Sky
is a lie.)
3. Is virtual reality a kind of reality? (On whether VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive deal in mass-market hallucination.)
4. What constitutes a mind? (From the souls of
Beyond: Two Souls
to the synths of
Fallout 4
.)
5. What can you lose before you're no longer yourself? (Identity crises in the likes of
The Swapper
and
BioShock Infinite
6. Does it mean anything to say we have choice? (Determinism and free will in
Bioshock
,
Portal 2
Deus Ex
7. What does it mean to be a good or dutiful person? (Virtue ethics in the
Ultima
series and duty ethics in
Planescape: Torment
8. Is there anything better in life than to be happy? (Utilitarianism in
Bioshock 2
Harvest Moon
10. How should we be governed, for whom and by who? (Government and rights in
Eve Online
Crusader Kings
Democracy 3
Fable 3
11. Is it ever right to take another life? And how do we cope with our own death? (The Harm Thesis and the good death in
To The Moon
Lost Odyssey.
)
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