Philosophy Through Video Games
Cogburn (philosophy, Louisiana State Univ.) and Silcox (humanities & philosophy, Univ. of Central Oklahoma) note that philosophers have traditionally been depicted as "spacey dreamers" and that "it must be hard to imagine how the revelatory insights that philosophy is supposed to provide could be achieved while playing video games." To make this less difficult to imagine, the authors examine a large number of specific video games in terms of their possible philosophical implications. In each of seven chapters, they begin "by describing a philosophical puzzle that arises from reflection on some particular genre or species of video game," e.g., personal identity, theories of perception and phenomenalism, and how violent games affect users' ethical, moral, and aesthetic dilemmas. The final chapter deals with "what many philosophers regard as the most important philosophical question—'What is the meaning of life?'" Throughout, the pertinent thinking of many philosophers, both past and present, is thoughtfully considered. There has been an upsurge of interest in philosophy books dealing with pop culture subjects, and this book should be of interest to a large readership; highly recommended for all libraries.—Leon H Brody, Falls Church, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.