Welcome to another episode of Armchair Gaming. The goal for this show is simple: I want to help you learn more about philosophy, and I’ll be using video games as an instrument to help teach it.
For the next stage of our journey through philosophy, we will be departing from death, in a manner of speaking. On the last episode we introduced the J-RPG Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, and how the story, including characters and plot devices can drive us towards evaluating the definition of “human”.
In today’s episode we will delve further into the narrative presented by the game, addressing how the story and mechanics revolving around NPCs encourages the player to consider what it is to be human. We will also explore the moral and personal issues that arise from a concrete definition that excludes Artificial Intelligence from this interpretation.
About Armchair Gaming
I had the chance to explore philosophy in high school and I loved it so much that I went on to study it at Trent University, where I obtained a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in philosophy. I feel so strongly about the subject that I often find myself going through the books I had purchased over my university career, as well as adding to the collection regularly.
Philosophy is an amazingly exciting subject that can teach us not just what to think, but how to think. Unfortunately, a lot of people see philosophy as some intimidating monster, with difficult concepts and theories to grasp. Conversely, some see it as a waste of someone’s time and intellect. As someone who has dedicated their life to the subject, this Scholarly Gamer wants to bring philosophy to you in a way that is approachable, sometimes funny, and presented through a medium of great importance to himself and millions of other people around the world: Games.
I hope you’ll join us on this journey. And remember, you never go a day in your life without living some philosophy.
