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Philosophy Through Video Games

By Jon Cogburn, Mark Silcox

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• ISBN: 978-0-415-98858-2
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 12th December 2008 (Available for Pre-order)
• Pages: 256

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About the Book

How can Wii Sports teach us about metaphysics?

Can playing World of Warcraft lead to greater self-consciousness?

How can we learn about aesthetics, ethics and divine attributes from
Zork, Grand Theft Auto, and Civilization?

A variety of increasingly sophisticated video games are rapidly overtaking books, films and television as America's most popular form of media entertainment. It is estimated that by 2011 over 30% of US households will own a Wii console - about the same percentage that owned a television in 1953.

In Philosophy Through Video Games, Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox - philosophers with game industry experience - investigate the aesthetic appeal of video games, their effect on our morals, the insights they give us into our understanding of perceptual knowledge, personal identity, artificial intelligence and the very meaning of life itself, arguing that video games are popular precisely because that they engage with longstanding philosophical problems.

Topics covered include:

* The Problem of the External World

* Dualism and Personal Identity

* Artificial and Human Intelligence in the Philosophy of Mind

* The Idea of Interactive Art

* The Moral Effects of Video Games

* Games and God's Goodness

Games discussed include:

Madden Football, Wii Sports, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, Sims Online, Second Life, Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Elder Scrolls, Zork, EverQuest Doom, Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto, Civilization, Mortal Kombat, Rome: Total War, Black and White, Aidyn Chronicles

Table of Contents

1 The Game inside the Mind, the Mind inside the Game (The Nintendo Wii Gaming Console)

2 I, Player: The Puzzle of Personal Identity (MMORPGS and Virtual Communities)

3 Artificial and Human Intelligence (Single-Player RPGs)

4 The Metaphysics of Interactive Art (Puzzle and Adventure Games)

5 Do Video Games Make us Evil? (First-Person Shooters)

6 Games and God’s Goodness (World-Builder and Tycoon Games)

7 Epilogue: Video Games and the Meaning of Life

About the Author(s)

Jon Cogburn is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Louisiana State University. Mark Silcox is Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Central Oklahoma.

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