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Marni Pickens
Marni Pickens

5 Followers

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May 5, 2022

Hungry for Knowledge: Philosophizing in the Wilderness with Yellowjackets

The Showtime series Yellowjackets is an epistemological investigation of the unknown. What happens when our knowledge of the world reaches its bounds, and we no longer have ample experience to discern proper action? Survival in the world requires that we know “what the world is like” and can predict occurrences…

The Yellowjackets

9 min read

Hungry for Knowledge: Philosophizing in the Wilderness with Yellowjackets
Hungry for Knowledge: Philosophizing in the Wilderness with Yellowjackets
The Yellowjackets

9 min read


Jan 4, 2022

Whistling Into the Void: The Epistemological Horror of The Empty Man

(Warning: This philosophical exploration of The Empty Man contains spoilers!) The Empty Man plumes the dark side of human belief formation and knowledge construction. First time director, David Prior, narrativizes ideas and casts them as philosophical fable. The Empty Man is horror epistemology for the modern world. In philosophy, epistemology…

Philosophy

10 min read

Whistling Into the Void: The Epistemological Horror of The Empty Man
Whistling Into the Void: The Epistemological Horror of The Empty Man
Philosophy

10 min read


Jul 5, 2021

I Haunt, Therefore I Am: Cartesian Dualism in The Conjuring Movies

Exploring the Cartesian Metaphysics of The Conjuring Universe. The Conjuring world is one filled with ghosts, demons, ominous hand clappings, and violent possessions. It is a panorama in which the physical world of the everyday is permeated by the invisible world of minds and beings that normally elude the senses…

The Conjuring

9 min read

I Haunt, Therefore I Am: Cartesian Dualism in The Conjuring Movies
I Haunt, Therefore I Am: Cartesian Dualism in The Conjuring Movies
The Conjuring

9 min read


Jun 14, 2021

Parasite and Moral Luck

Parasite is a profound, sometimes shocking, meditation on class, capitalism, and family. It is also a beautifully rendered portrait of the tragedy of bad moral luck. Moral luck is a philosophical concept that acknowledges the incongruity between several deep-rooted moral intuitions. One intuition is that I can, and should, be…

Ethics

9 min read

Parasite and Moral Luck
Parasite and Moral Luck
Ethics

9 min read


Jan 21, 2021

Drop Dead: Russian Doll Ethics

Leslye Headland’s Netflix escapade, Russian Doll, is a darkly surreal adventure in which the main protagonist(s) die over and over again. The plot unfolds as a narrative puzzle, spinning its web to ensnare its characters inside the day of their own deaths. They die only to be born again a…

Russian Doll Netflix

8 min read

Drop Dead: Russian Doll Ethics
Drop Dead: Russian Doll Ethics
Russian Doll Netflix

8 min read


Dec 3, 2020

Watching Philosophy in The Good Place

For fans of The Good Place, especially those who either teach philosophy or who enjoy the geeky pleasures of reading obscure philosophical works, the brainy Chidi Anagonye is a sitcom hero made in philosophical heaven. From the first season of The Good Place onward, philosophy nerds had one pressing question…

The Good Place

6 min read

Watching Philosophy in The Good Place
Watching Philosophy in The Good Place
The Good Place

6 min read


Jul 30, 2020

The Platform: Food as Weapon

The Spanish film, The Platform (2019, directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia) is a political allegory, which is to say, it is a philosophical thought experiment dramatized. Philosophy has long adopted the thought experiment as a means of getting to an essential idea by stripping away the superfluous. It is not meant…

Utilitarianism

9 min read

The Platform: Food as Weapon
The Platform: Food as Weapon
Utilitarianism

9 min read


Jul 8, 2020

Chasing Goodness in The Good Place

The Good Place poses a central moral question: can people become “good” simply by trying hard enough? In addition to exploring differing answers to this question, the show adds its own moral imperative, namely, that whether or not we can become good people, part of our obligation to one another…

The Good Place

8 min read

Chasing Goodness in The Good Place
Chasing Goodness in The Good Place
The Good Place

8 min read


Jun 16, 2020

On Vampires and Virtue: Getting Ethical with Aristotle and Buffy

Everyone believes they are a good person, or at the very least, everyone wants to believe they are a good person, and Buffy is no exception. Buffy strives for moral goodness and many of the conflicts at the heart of Buffy the Vampire Slayer concern ethical dilemmas and the choices…

Philosophy

8 min read

On Vampires and Virtue: Getting Ethical with Aristotle and Buffy
On Vampires and Virtue: Getting Ethical with Aristotle and Buffy
Philosophy

8 min read


May 19, 2020

O Buffy, Where Art Thou?

The world needs a new kind of hero right now. We need someone who has flaws, understands trauma, realizes that no matter how bad things might be, they can always get a little worse, or even a lot worse. We need someone who is comfortable with death; someone who doesn’t…

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

9 min read

O Buffy, Where Art Thou?
O Buffy, Where Art Thou?
Buffy The Vampire Slayer

9 min read

Marni Pickens

Marni Pickens

5 Followers

Philosophy Lecturer at Regis University, Contemplator of Pop Culture, Player of the Bass.

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