BioShock and Philosophy, Irrational Game, Rational Book by Cuddy, Luke -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title page Table of Contents Hacking into This Book (Introduction) Part I: LEVEL 1 RESEARCH BONUS

1 BioShock’s Meta-Narrative

Mind Games Rapture: How BioShock Hooks You Horizons and Expectations in the Mid-Atlantic The Meta-Narrative: Twisted Horizons Gaming Freedom: Choosing or Obeying?

2 The Value of Art in BioShock

Ayn Rand on Art, Ethics, and Choice Horror Beneath the Waves Why Randians Should Celebrate BioShock How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the ADAM

3 SHODAN vs. the Many

4 “The cage is somber”

Part II: TEARS, TIME, AND REALITY

5 Rapture in a Physical World

Physicalism, Ryan’s Putter, and Ghosts Plasmids and Ghosts in a Physical World The Smell of Poo and Ghosts The Last Bit

6 Would You Kindly Bring Us the Girl and Wipe Away the Debt

“Liberty Means Responsibility”—George Bernard Shaw “No Animal is Born Free…”—Zachary Hale Comstock Between the Confines of Necessity and Free Will Measurements in Different Worlds Would You Kindly? BioShock Infinite as a Frankfurt-type Example “We All Make Choices, But in the End Our Choices Make Us”—Andrew Ryan The Impossible Price of Clemency “One Can’t Believe Impossible Things”

7 BioShock as Plato’s Cave

Is Outside the Cave Real Either? BioShock Is Better The Other “Choices” What About Refusal? Harvest vs. Rescue: Stroke of Genius, Not a Flaw Pretending to Talk about It

8 BioShock Infinite and Transworld Individuality

Why Should We Care? Essentialism Transworld Identity and Counterpart Theory Counterparts in the World of BioShock BioShock and Necessary Beings The Plurality of Worlds to Come

9 Shockingly Limited

Determinism, Necessity, and the “Infinite” in BioShock Infinite Limiting Possibilities Means There Is No Real Infinite Attempting to Reconcile the Infinite Religious Extremism and the BioShock Infinite Narrative Final Thoughts

Part III: THE “UNION” AND THE SODOM BELOW

10 “The bindings are there as a safeguard”

“No, But I’m Afraid of You”—Booker DeWitt The Vox “Cherubs for Every Chore!”—Jeremiah Fink War without End “I Was Thinking Two Things, But Only Mean One of Them”—Guard Bird or Cage?

11 Propaganda, Lies, and Bullshit in BioShock’s Rapture

“Even in the Book of Lies, Sometimes You Find Truth”—Andrew Ryan That’s Bullshit! Noble Lies, Noble Propaganda

12 The Vox Populi Group, Marx, and Equal Rights for All

Part IV: THE CIRCUS OF VALUES

13 Infinite Lighthouses, Infinite Stories

“Not Stars, They're Doors”—Elizabeth Constants and Variables The Illusion of Choice

14 Have You Ever Been to Rapture?

Prometheus Falls Plasmids, Vigors, and Other Methods Now Would You Kindly Pick Up That Controller? Time to Put Some Sweat on That Brow Welcome to Rapture Is a Man Not Entitled to the Sweat of His Brow?

15 “Evolve today!”

What Exactly Are They Researching? Wait, You Want to Change the Nature of Humanity? But Isn’t Human Enhancement a Big Leap Forward? Don’t Tell Me What to Do with My Body! Who Profits from This? We Would Program Our Children But at Least the People with “Disabilities” Could Live a “Normal” Life Would You Kindly Evolve Today?

16 Vending Machine Values

What Is Beauty? Steinman’s Justice through Beauty The Value of Beauty and Morality This Is the End

Notes on Contributors Index End User License Agreement