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.

L2: "Logic and Mathematics"

FREGE AND RUSSELL.

'Natural Numbers' - Words used to count. Created from Abstract Categories or Groups. "Plural" - Combination of Numbers/Words - Small Numbers different function to Large Numbers (logically reach up to 6/7 before start to count).

-(8545)- Basic Symbols Organised According to Syntax (inferred system of rules). Can be Analysed Through Division, etc. Addition and Multiplication as "Plurals of Plurals". Technology as innate part of Neurological Syntax. [CHOMSKY] A Basic Logical Language containing Limited Human Intelligence (predictive text, etc). 

Three attitudes towards numbers:

1) They are natural and empirical/observed. [RUSSELL]
2) They are intuitive [PYTHAGORAS/PLATO] - Numbers are from a different world. "Supernatural".
3) They are abstract objects [FREGE] that modify meaning. Not something we learn so must be innate [CHOMSKY]

Apes able to distinguish Simple Plurality. 0 (the absence of a thing/"one thing"), 1 (one/enough/"more than one thing") and 2 (a lot/unlimited/more than one/"many things") - All are strong natural numbers.

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.