Bioshock: A Philosophical Review.

With the highly anticipated release of Bioshock Infinite (the third installment of the 2K game series), you will find below a review/analysis of the first game, complete with philosophical 

jargon and pictures and whatnot.

[All Screenshots From Personal Gameplay. Image Rights Owned by Irrational Games]

Released in 2007 by Irrational Games, Bioshock is seen as one of the Highest Rated First Person Shooters of All Time* The Gamer is immersed in the world of Rapture; an underwater city that is drowned in history. With what appears to be a longing for the past, the game design mirrors that of 1950’s/60’s America.

Amidst a plane crash, we are plunged into the depths of a Utopia; a sort of broken Atlantis. It is the end of an Idealistic Society said to have been dominated by “hand-picked” Scientists, Artists and Industrialists; a society which is now on the brink of war. You can alter your own biological structure with so called “Plasmids” (controlled by your own “will to power” – Nietzsche’s “Ubermensch”/Superman) and determine your own ending based on the choices you make throughout the game (Existentialism).

With awards such as Best Game of the Year (British Academy Video Game Awards), Best Original Game (Yahoo! Games Best of 2007) and Best Artistic Design (IGN E3 2007 Awards), Bioshock is a game like no other.

HCJ Seminar Paper (14/03/2013)

Bureaucracy and "The New Industrial State"

The 1950's/60's was a time of prosperity within the USA and the developed world. The outlook was highly KEYNESIAN, as the failure of Communism lead to Capitalism being seen as a more efficient and effective way to progress. Branding and Advertising, described as the ‘drug of the nation’, was used to appeal to a person’s subconscious wants and desires, with the rise in Finance Capital paving the way for a more nihilistic outlook. People became self-indulgent, adopting smoking for example, and much more materialistic. Classic Economists such as ADAM SMITH and DAVID HUME were now obsolete as the increase in capital became the height of social worth and the purpose of existence. Bigger organisations were being set up to accommodate the necessary ‘means of production’ with America now being viewed as a “Free Market Capitalist Economy”.

L1: "Science and Certainty"

BACON, NEWTON, EINSTEIN.

"Mechanistic Materialists" - The world as a machine.

Science as the search for the truth. The separation of Mind and Reality. Two forms of knowledge according to KANT (1724-1804). Apriori and Aposteriori. One true "by definition". The other learned through experience.

Object ---> Phenomena (perceived) ---> Noumena (unperceived) 

When an object is unperceived, "noumenal", it becomes a "thing-in-itself". SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860) believed in the world as a "thing in itself", whereby, it is necessary for existence.

The Cartesian belief of Solopsism. The idea that only you exist and everything else is a dream. "I think, therefore I am". Apriori reasoning of the phenomenal, external world.

Modern Theoretical Physics. The idea that there was no time before time. We view the world through "space time goggles". We see the world in 3D because we, ourselves, are 3D beings. Time as a mental phenomena. [EINSTEIN] - "The Verification Principle" "The truth is of any proposition is the way in which you verify". Supportive of BACON'S inductive method.

NEWTON. The laws of nature from nature itself. Knowledge is objective and independent from perception. Apriori.

Journalists taught to "play dumb". We can know nothing for certain. Aposteriori reasoning of deduction, not induction.

HCJ Seminar Paper (1.11.12)

Economics

Economics, in this sense is scientific and subjective. Based on fact and according to Karl Popper (1902-1994) cannot be falsified. In his view, policies should be judged as experimental leaving maximum room for self-correction, as stated in his work “The Open Society and its Enemies” (1962). Empiricist John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) claims that it is through falsifying that human nature progresses.

Classical Economist Adam Smith (1723-1790) views people as “calculating machines” designed for maximising pleasure and minimising pain. Otherwise known as Utilitarianism, this moral philosophy is hindered by the State, which is viewed as an obstacle to progress. In “The Wealth of Nations” (1776) he states that richer countries come down to too much state intervention. “The hidden hand of the market” in which all value is derived from trade, when in actuality; people should be allowed to be free.

This is the crisis of Capitalism, claimed by Karl Marx (1818-1883) with which the “Iron Law of Wages” will inevitably lead to the fall of Western Civilisation. There is a constant struggle to survive (Charles Darwin, 1809-1882) as humans use up resources to their maximum limit. A prime example being the Golden Age of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, whereby the economic boom lead to high levels of inflation, causing mass unemployment. The rise in monetary value reduced the right of human freedom in the modern world.

"The Paradigm Of Change" #2

19th Century Romanticism was greatly dominated by 'German Idealism'. Influenced by the almighty power of the Prussian State, it produced such philosophers as Immanuel Kant who declared that "not everything can be known" - the idea that certain knowledge of the world is beyond our understanding.

His philosophy went on to influence the likes of Hegel, Byron and Schopenhauer at a time when British Empiricism was thriving.