The Kirkyard of St Cuthbert

One of the reasons why I haven’t posted much here recently is that I spent a couple of weeks in Scotland in late August, followed in early September by a week of work in Manchester. I then returned to North America (first my permanent home in Toronto, then to my new temporary apartment in Chicago, from which I’ll be visiting Notre Dame University weekly as a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and Religion until late May 2025). It’s been a busy time!

While in Edinburgh, I naturally visited the kirkyard of St Cuthbert. A saint in our own world from the 7th century, St Cuthbert also famously travelled to the World of Greyhawk (Oerth), where he became an important deity, a champion of law and order against the chaos and evil of vile Iuz. In fact, one of the characters from my recent Greyhawk campaign, Cedric the warrior cleric, was a priest of St Cuthbert.

Here are some pictures I took while visiting:

[The back of Edinburgh Castle. Our temporary accommodation was only a block from this view.]

[The cross in St Cuthbert's kirkyard.]

[The entrance to the kirkyard.]

[The view of the kirkyard from Ediburgh Castle.]

[Statue of David Hume. No relation to St Cuthbert obviously, but one of my philosophic heroes.]

Living a life of real value

I've mentioned it before here, but I'm a great fan of Existential Comics. And I quite liked today's strip (reproduced below).

Just replace "playing video games" with "playing role-playing games" and I'm pretty much this guy...

Cthulhu, utilitarian

Only Existential Comics could portray the great old one Cthulhu as a rational utilitarian:

EC’s series on ‘Philosophers and Dungeons & Dragons’ is simply wonderful. If you haven’t read them yet, I highly recommend doing so! (I previously posted on parts I, II, IV, V, VI, and VIII—hmmm, not sure why I didn’t mention parts III or VII here.)

Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophers: The Sci-Fi Debate

It’s been a while, but there is a new installment (number VIII) of “Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophers” at Existential Comics!

Read the whole thing here.

Kudos to Dungeon Master de Beauvoir for adhering to the old school D&D philosophy of permitting ‘science fiction’ elements into her campaign.

(A pity, though, that the comic doesn’t mention the ‘classic’ role-playing game Cyborg Commando!)

The Dungeon Masters are now the Professors

Fellow philosopher—and fantasy fan and role-playing gamer—Christopher Robichaud is senior lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Apparently he has quite the office!

[Photo of Robichaud in his domain from here.]

Here is his explanation of his engagement with popular culture:

As a philosopher and ethicist, why is pop culture a part of your work?    I sometimes joke that philosophy is wasted on philosophers. It's only half a joke. I love the discipline. I love my colleagues who are professional philosophers writing mostly for professional philosophers. There's so much good that philosophy can do in the public, at large, but you sort of have to meet them halfway. So, my way of meeting folks halfway is by saying, "These popular cultural things that you love—Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead or Dungeons & Dragons or superheroes—there are some interesting philosophical ideas here."  

And here he mentions his ongoing D&D game:

Any Easter eggs in the office? Anything hidden that people wouldn't notice?    In the corner, there are a bunch of Dungeons & Dragons books; I run Dungeons & Dragons game out of the Kennedy School. A couple times a month, people—including a Cambridge city councilor—play with me and a bunch of the students.  

Living the academic nerd dream!

Christopher edited the volume Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy and authored this blog’s review of Curse of Strahd.

May the Fourth be with you

Jedi master 'Spinoda' trains Jedi apprentice Immanuel Kant (from Existential Comics):

Check out the full Star Wars themed comic here!

Scottish dwarves

Another insight from Existential Comics:

This is a great comic, by the way. I've mentioned it here before. There are a number of strips on 'Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy', all of which are worth reading.

The Angsty Dragon of Angst

Another great "Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophers" episode from Existential Comics!

Bards are mocked quite mercilessly in this one:

[Complete comic here.]

Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus was the first work of philosophy that I read carefully from beginning to end (I did so for a first-year university course on existentialism).  So I retain a certain fondness for Camus, even though my professional work has nothing to do with existentialism.

And of course I still play Dungeons & Dragons. And I like bards! Indeed, they're my second-favourite class (after mages).

Dungeon Master Nietzsche

More of these gems can be found here.

Alas, the image is obviously phony. As most scholars know, Nietzsche was a first edition 'Gygaxian grognard' all the way. (E.g., see his important discussion of "halfling paladins" as the contemptible "last men" in Thus Spake Zarathustra.)

Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophers: Part V

"The Battle of Five Philosophers."

(Another one from Existential Comics.)

Class Struggle in Westeros

“Wildlings of the north unite!  You have nothing to lose but your cumbersome furs!”

Okay, here is another short post with a slight political philosophy flavour.  Fans of the Game of Thrones television series (and/or novels) may enjoy reading: “Can Marxist Theory Predict the End of Game of Thrones?”  (Don’t worry, gentle readers, you don’t need to be a Marxist [I’m not] to enjoy it.)

This part struck me as especially quote-worthy: 

Westeros needs capitalists – such as those who frown puritanically at us from Dutch portraits in the 17th century. And they should, as in the Dutch Republic and the English civil war, launch a revolution.
But that can’t happen in the secondary world of fantasy fiction…
There is a reason so much fantasy fiction adopts the conceit of a feudalism that is always in crisis but never overthrown. It forms the ideal landscape in which to dramatise the secret desires of people who live under modern capitalism.

‘Secret desires’ indeed!  (Am I wrong for wishing that I could be Jaqen H'ghar more than any other character in the series?  Ah well, "valar morghulis"…)

John Rawls the Orc?!?

A somewhat surprising look for the author of the 20th century's most important work in political philosophy, A Theory of Justice.  I guess that behind the 'veil of ignorance' one simply does not know whether one is an orc, troll, elf, dwarf, hobbit, or human...

(Okay, okay, so this guy is not the same person as this guy...)

Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: The Book

Congratulations to my friend Christopher Robichaud on his new book, Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy!

There is a nice overview of the book by Ethan Gilsdorf here.  It looks great, and I'm looking forward to delving into it once the holidays arrive.

On why Aristotle would've approved of playing RPGs:

In one of the most compelling chapters, “‘Others play at dice’: Friendship and Dungeons & Dragons,” Jeffery L. Nicholas offers several examples of friendships between characters and players in D&D (as well as friendships from Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, A Song of Ice and Fire, and his own life. “One reason Aristotle believes people need friends is that only through friendship can one exercise certain virtues that are necessary for leading a flourishing life,” he says. “Through D&D, individuals have the opportunity not only to learn about friendship, loyalty, and love, but also to develop those rare true friendships in which they live a life valuing loyalty and love.” 

I think all D&Ders can speak to a similar effect that the game has had on their lives. It’s a virtuous game, one that opens our eyes to different ideas, different worldviews, different perspectives, opposing plots and quests, as well as pursuit of the common good. “Characters develop relationships that mirror the relationships we develop with other players,” says Nicholas. Had it not been for D&D, he and his gaming buddies would never have been as close. “D&D brought us together once a week, and we were able to talk about the most important things in our lives.”

My only criticism: "No ... Kant vs. Nietzsche vs. Kierkegaard psionic showdowns on the Astral Plane."  (*sigh* Some day…)

Kudos to Christopher!  I think that he rolled a 'natural 20' with this one.

Why Do We Seem to be Alone in the Universe?

This article on the 'Fermi Paradox' is pretty awesome.

(Fans of authors like Ian M. Banks and Alastair Reynolds especially will enjoy it, I think.)