About Philosophiraga: The Video Games and Philosophy Podcast
Philosophiraga is an audio presentation in the Well-Red Mage family of content. Each episode, I look at a big idea from the history of philosophy and discuss how it relates to the world of video games. It's sort of like an introductory philosophy course mashed up with gaming culture, which (I like to think) makes it a bit more interesting. If you've already studied philosophy, you're unlikely to learn anything new from Philosophiraga... but I hope you might be able to enjoy listening anyway.
M3E2: We're All Just Dreamed Up By A Fish (Immaterialism and Link's Awakening)
If reality were just a dream, how could we tell? Are tables perfect? Why bother waking up a fish? Why did a dictionary maker kick a rock? All these questions and more will be... maybe answered, or maybe just alluded to, in this episode on Bishop Berkeley's subjective idealism. We also talk about video games a bit, of course. If you're a fan of the show, I'm given to understand that feeding the algorithms by leaving ratings or reviews on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser is a super helpful thing y...
25 Sept 2020
M3E1: Ali-ontology 101 (Saint's Row IV and an Intro to Ontology)
What's even real anyway, dude? Like, does the world even exist, yo? These, albeit perhaps not phrased in quite the same way, are big questions in philosophy, and this episode is an introduction to ontology: the study of being and existence. Stay tuned for the rest of the module on ontology, in which we'll explore some theories about what there might be (or indeed not be) and what it might be like (or indeed not be like). If you're a fan of the show, I'm given to understand that feeding the ...
31 Jul 2020
M2E5: Final Fantasy: Fallacy Nova Contrapositus (Logical Fallacies)
Logic is weird and fuzzy. Fortunately, understanding logical fallacies can help us to cut through some of the fuzziness... as long as we're careful how we use them. This episode is an introduction to a few useful fallacies, illuminated with examples from the world of gaming. If you're a fan of the show, I'm given to understand that feeding the algorithms by leaving ratings or reviews on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser is a super helpful thing you can do, so... go do that. Thanks! You can also:...
19 Jun 2020
Interview with My Other Half
It's a special interview episode: my guest is none other than my other half, Hannah! We discuss her gaming history, why she wants her games to be colourful and not boring, and how she feels about philosophy. Her views on philosophy might not be what you'd expect from someone who lives with me, but hey, different perspectives are what the world needs! If you're a fan of the show, I'm given to understand that feeding the algorithms by leaving ratings or reviews on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser...
22 May 2020
M2E4: OBJECTION! (Ace Attorney and Empiricism)
It's another episode of Philosophiraga, the bite-sized deep-dive into video games and philosophy. This time, we're looking at empiricism: the view that we know stuff through experience, and no other way. Phoenix Wright and co will help us to think about different kinds of knowledge, how experiencing something can help us to prove claims true or false, and what there even is to experience anyway. - If you're a fan of the show, I'm given to understand that feeding the algorithms by leaving r...
24 Apr 2020
M2E3: Cogito Ergo You Died (Dark Souls and Rationalism)
In this episode of Philosophiraga, the gaming and philosophy podcast, we take a look at rationalism. How can we know things without experiencing them? Rationalism has a few suggestions. Speaking of things we know without having experienced them, the way Dark Souls presents its story is so unlike anything else I've ever come across that I think it's worth talking about. We discuss intuition, innate knowledge, big ol' dragons, Souls of Lords, and playing games with a banana, all on this episo...
21 Mar 2020
M2E2: Not A Coronavirus Episode (World of Warcraft and Making Inferences)
In this... slightly out-of-schedule episode of Philosophiraga, we take a look at something that happened in World of Warcraft many years ago, and discuss whether it's relevant to things happening in the real world today. One correction: I said in the show that 'post hoc ergo propter hoc' translates to 'with this therefore because of this'. That would actually be 'cum hoc ergo propter hoc'; 'post hoc' is after rather than with. The two phrases are pretty much interchangeable, but I still...
21 Feb 2020
Interview with The Well-Red Mage
Moses Norton, the Well-Red Mage himself, is my guest for this interview episode of Philosophiraga. We talk right and wrong, Batman, truffle oil, parenthood, the difference between academic philosophy and just sort of doing philosophy out in the world, how to have a good conversation with just about anyone, the secret bad ending of Tetris, the distinction between 'favourite' and 'best', and whether Rob Zombie could in fact rob zombies. Mostly, though, we talk about morality and video games. ...
24 Jan 2020
M2E1: It's Super Effective! (Pokémon and Justified True Belief)
Module two episode one! What is knowledge? How do we know when we know something? How do we know whether we know that we know anything? To answer all these questions and more (or just to wonder about them and form no conclusions whatsoever), Philosophiraga is here to explain what Justified True Belief means with the help of Pokémon. If you're a fan of the show, I'm given to understand that feeding the algorithms by leaving ratings or reviews on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser is about the mos...
20 Dec 2019
M1E4: The Unbearable Lightness of Keying (Kingdom Hearts and Meta-Ethics)
What even is good, or bad, or whatever? When we say 'this is good', to what are we actually referring? These are some questions which, if we're being honest, sound like they might be slightly meaningless. Fortunately, Philosophiraga takes weird philosophical questions and looks at them through the lens of video games: in this episode, we discuss how morality works in the Kingdom Hearts universe, and maybe even learn something along the way. If you're a fan of the show, I'm given to understa...
23 Nov 2019
M1E1: You're Gonna Have A Bad Time (Undertale and Virtue Ethics)
Module one episode one, baybay! Our first big topic is moral philosophy; in this very first episode, we discuss indie darling Undertale and Aristotle's conception of what it means to be a good person. Find me on Twitter: @overthinkery1 (and The Well-Red Mage @TheWellRedMage) Discuss Philosophiraga on Reddit at The Well-Reddit Page Check out more Magely content at TheWellRedMage.com Support the show with a monthly pledge of any amount on Patreon to receive great boons and much love Support t...
23 Nov 2019
M1E2: Incredibly Wicked, BioShockingly Evil and Vile, or: Shadow of the Consequentialism (BioShock and Utilitarianism)
Part two of Philosophiraga's look at moral philosophy, in which we discuss utilitarianism. Are quantitative calculations the best way to go when deciding the right thing to do? Do we murder little girls for superpowered sea slugs, or... not? And why didn't BioShock go all in on the moral quandary anyway?! Find me on Twitter: @overthinkery1 (and The Well-Red Mage @TheWellRedMage) Discuss Philosophiraga on Reddit at The Well-Reddit Page Check out more Magely content at TheWellRedMage.com Sup...
23 Nov 2019
M1E3: Kant Theft Auto (Grand Theft Auto and Kant's Deontological Ethics)
It's probably fair to say that the player characters in Grand Theft Auto aren't the best people, but how do we establish this? What should compel them to be better? And shouldn't we do more to be nice to fictional characters? Find me on Twitter: @overthinkery1 (and The Well-Red Mage @TheWellRedMage) Discuss Philosophiraga on Reddit at The Well-Reddit Page Check out more Magely content at TheWellRedMage.com Support the show with a monthly pledge of any amount on Patreon to receive great boons...
23 Nov 2019
Episode Zero: LeChucking Knowledge At Ya (Monkey Island and an Introduction)
We're launching Philosophiraga! This is a pre-episode of sorts explaining the format and giving well-owed thanks. Find me on Twitter: @overthinkery1 (and The Well-Red Mage @TheWellRedMage) Discuss Philosophiraga on Reddit at The Well-Reddit Page Check out more Magely content at TheWellRedMage.com Support the show with a monthly pledge of any amount on Patreon to receive great boons and much love Support the show
22 Nov 2019
The Video Games and Philosophy Podcast Launch and Giveaway
Philosophiraga launches with its first four episodes TOMORROW. Something else you'll hear in this episode, possibly of EVEN MORE INTEREST, is that we're giving away free stuff to celebrate. Listen now to find out how to win. Support the show
14 Nov 2019
Philosophiraga: Still Coming Soon.
November 23rd, people. That's not far away. In this second advert, I point out some of the things which will almost definitely make Philosophiraga a beloved hit: it's got games, it's got philosophy, it's got a soundtrack, it's got a sexy logo. What more could you want? Support the show
29 Oct 2019
Philosophiraga: Coming Soon.
Wanna know what Philosophiraga is? Wanna know when it's out? For answers to all these questions AND MORE (well, not really), check out our first teaser for the show. This is an advert that will take you less than two minutes to listen to, and it might even make you smile. That's gotta be worth having a listen. Support the show
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