Andrew M. Winters

Christian Cotton

When most people think of anime, they think of large-eyed adolescents fighting fearsome monsters (kaijū). On the surface, Neon Genesis Evangelion is just the same, filled with destructive explosions and gigantic EVA missiles that can only be piloted by super-hot teens. But as every otaku knows, anime as a stylized artform has much more to offer, often pushing the artistic, emotional, and intellectual boundaries of its audiences with its storylines. Neon Genesis Evangelion is one such anime: beyond the fearsome monsters and Evangelions, Neon Genesis explores the depths of the psyches of the adolescents when they become the very weapons needed to destroy the onslaught of Angels. The emotional complexities of the show make Neon Genesis Evangelion an emotional and intellectually challenging anime to watch. Fortunately, many of us do not undergo as extreme of experiences facing Shinji, Rei, and Asuka. But many of us do face tragedies that prompt us to ask questions about our own existence, how to live, and how to relate to others. Neon Genesis Evangelion and Philosophy encourages readers to take a moment to explore the wide range of philosophical topics found within the anime to challenge and encourage you to reflect on who you are and how to live with others.

That Syncing Feeling

Neon Genesis Evangelion and Philosophy

Jeffrey A. Ewing

Stranger Things and Philosophy is an important book, the first of its kind to examine the fantastical world of this award-winning, widely beloved, phenomenal show with a philosophical lens. This is important precisely because the show rests so heavily on a complex and thought-provoking mythos based around secretive government experiments and a parallel dimension that darkly reflects readers' own. The series as a whole has asked more questions than it has delivered answers, and the chapters in this volume will explore these topics. From the deepest recesses of the Upside Down, its tunnels snaking beneath the local bookstores of Hawkins, Indiana and who knows where else, this collection of philosophical musings on the world of Stranger Things promises to enlighten readers. This volume considers many of the philosophically related ideas that that come up in the show such as: What are the moral implications of secret government projects? What is the nature of friendship? Does scientific research need to be concerned with ethics? What might it be like to experience the world from the perspective of the Mind Flayer? Is it possible to understand the metaphysics of the Upside Down?

Stranger Things and Philosophy

The authors turn existing theories about Stranger Things Upside Down.

In thinking about ontology as the study of being or what fundamentally exists, we can adopt an ontology that either takes substances or processes as primary. There are, however, both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for not fully adopting a substance ontology, which indicate that we ought to suspend judgment with respect to the acceptance of a substance ontology. Doing so allows room to further explore other ontologies. In this book, Andrew M. Winters argues that there are both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for further pursuing a process ontology. Adopting a process ontology allows us to overcome many of the difficulties facing a substance ontology while also accommodating many of the phenomenon that substance ontologies were appealed to for explanation. Given these reasons, we have both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for pursuing and developing a metaphysics without substance.

Andrew M. Winters

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