Considered a sign of the 'coming of age' of video games as an artistic medium, the award-winning BioShock franchise covers vast philosophical ground. BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book presents expert reflections by philosophers (and Bioshock connoisseurs) on this critically acclaimed and immersive fan-favorite. * Reveals the philosophical questions raised through the artistic complexity, compelling characters and absorbing plots of this ground-breaking first-person shooter (FPS) * Explores what BioShock teaches the gamer about gaming, and the aesthetics of video game storytelling * Addresses a wide array of topics including Marxism, propaganda, human enhancement technologies, political decision-making, free will, morality, feminism, transworld individuality, and vending machines in the dystopian society of Rapture * Considers visionary game developer Ken Levine's depiction of Ayn Rand's philosophy, as well as the theories of Aristotle, de Beauvoir, Dewey, Leibniz, Marx, Plato, and others from the Hall of Philosophical Heroes Considered a sign of the coming of age of video games as an artistic medium, the award-winning BioShock franchise covers vast philosophical ground. Hacking Into This Book (Introduction)Luke CuddyLevel 1 Research Bonus: Increased Wisdom Capacity1: BioShock s Meta-Narrative: What BioShock Teaches the Gamer about GamingCollin Pointon2: The Value of Art in BioShock: Ayn Rand, Emotion, and ChoiceJason Rose3: SHODAN vs. The Many or Mind vs. The BodyRobert M. Mentyka4: The Cage is Somber: A Feminist Understanding of ElizabethCatlyn OrigitanoTears, Time, and Reality5: Rapture in a Physical World: Did Andrew Ryan Choose the Impossible?James Cook6: Would You Kindly Bring us the Girl and Wipe Away the Debt: Free Will and Moral Responsibility in BioShock InfiniteOliver Laas7: BioShock as Plato s CaveRoger Travis8: BioShock Infinite and Transworld Individuality: Identity Across Space and TimeCharles Joshua Horn9: Shockingly Limited: Escaping Columbia s God of NecessityScott Squires and James McBainThe Union and the Sodom Below10: The Bindings are There as a Safeguard: Sovereignty and Political Decisions in BioShock InfiniteRick Elmore11: Propaganda, Lies, and Bullshit in BioShock s RaptureRachel McKinnon12: The Vox Populi Group, Marx, and Equal Rights for AllTyler DeHaven and Chris HendricksonThe Circus of Values13: Infinite Lighthouses, Infinite Stories: BioShock and the Aesthetics of Video Game StorytellingLászló Kajtár14: Have You Ever Been To Rapture? BioShock as an Introduction to PhenomenologyStefan Schevelier15: Evolve today! Human Enhancement Technologies in the BioShock UniverseSimon Ledder16: Vending Machine Values: Buying Beauty and Morality in BioShockMichael J. Muniz