Kira and Jill are back! And this time it is all about Trust in Thedas. Can we trust our companions? (Blackwall, Anders and Solas, I’m looking at you!!) Is DA 2 told by a reliable narrator? Can we trust the history we learn through all the codex entries? There are so many codex entries? Why would there be so many codex entries if the history is wrong? (Shout out to the people responsible at BioWare for writing all the codex entries! Kira read them all!!)
We will examine trust and testimony in a philosophical sense, and then apply philosophical concepts to the Dragon Age world, history and characters to see what we can learn!
In this episode, Kira and Jill examine some more mini moral dilemmas: The treatment of Loghain at the end of DAO, the treatment of Anders at the end of DA2 and the treatment of the Wardens after the Adamant quest in DAI. We bring back some of the ethical theories from our first episode (Consequentialism, Deontology and Virtue ethics). And we add two theories of justice to the mix to help us think through these moral dilemmas in the Dragon Age world.
If you like the podcast, you can buy us a coffee (or tea, or–more likely–hot chocolate).
In this episode, Kira and Jill discuss the way gender is represented across all three Dragon Age games. We consider character creation, gender roles and gender and power in Thedas, the performance of gender in the game, and gender identity.
References:
de Beauvoir, Simone (1953) The Second Sex, translated by H.M. Parshley, New York: Knopf.
Richardson, Sarah S., (2012) “Sexing the X: How the X became the ‘Female Chromosome'” Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol. 37 No. 4
In this episode Kira and Jill discuss personal identity and sense of self as presented in the Dragon Age games. From Anders and Justice, to Flemith and Mythal to Cole’s transformation from spirit-like to human-like, questions regarding identity are peppered throughout these games. Over and over in the games we are invited to ask what makes someone the person that they are, and what makes someone the same person over time, regardless of how many different bodies they may or may not be occupying. Using philosophical theories and concepts from Rene Descartes, John Locke, Hilde Lindemann, Susan Brison and Derek Parfit, Kira and Jill examine what the Dragon Age games have to say about personal identity.
If you like the podcast, you can buy us a coffee (or tea, or–more likely–hot chocolate).
Brison, Susan (1996) “Outliving Oneself: Trauma, Memory and Personal Identity” (in Feminists Rethink the Self (Feminist Theory and Politics Series,) Diana T. Meyers ed.) Westview Press.
Bostrom, N. (2005) “A History of Transhumanist Thought” Journal of Evolution and Technology. 14 (1).
Descartes, Rene (2008) Meditations on First Philosophy (M. Moriarty, trans.). Oxford University Press
Lindemann, Hilde ((2014) Holding On and Letting Go: The Social Practice of Personal Identities, Oxford University Press
Locke, John, and P.H. Nidditch (1979) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Clarendon Press.
Parfit, Derek (1987) Reasons and Persons, Clarendon Press
In this episode, Kira and Jill examine depictions of oppression and resistance in the Dragon Age games. We draw on the works of Marilyn Frye for understanding oppression. We also draw on standpoint theory, a feminist theory of knowledge developed by Donna Haraway, Sandra Harding and Nancy Hartsock among others. Finally, we draw on epistemologies of resistance as developed by José Medina. We apply these philosophical concepts to the representations of the city elves and the circle mages in Fereldon and the Free Marches within the Dragon Age games. And we draw some conclusions about how oppression functions in the games, and how that might inform our understanding of oppression in North American society.
If you like the podcast, you can buy us a coffee (or tea, or–more likely–hot chocolate).
Frye, Marilyn (2000) “Oppression” in Lorraine Code, Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories, London and New York: Routledge. Pp. 370
Haraway, Donna (1988) “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective,” Feminist Studies, Vol, 14. Pp. 575-599
Harding, Sandra (2015) Objectivity and Diversity: Another Logic of Scientific Research, University of Chicago Press
Hartsock, Nancy (1998) “Marxist Feminist Dialectics for the 21st Century” in Science and Society, Vol. 62, No. 3. Pp. 400-413
Medina José (2012) The Epistemology of Resistance, Oxford University Press
In this episode we examine the ways that love, sex, romance and relationships are presented in Dragon Age 2. We apply the Ancient Philosophical concepts of Eros, Agape and Philia to examine different representations of love in the game. And we discuss Sex Negative Feminism, Sex Positive Feminism, and the Gender Binary to examine ways the game may be reinforcing or challenging pervasive tropes that exist in Western culture regarding sex, and desire.
Why is the episode called “stabby stab stab?” Listen to find out!
If you like the podcast, you can buy us a coffee (or tea, or–more likely–hot chocolate).
In this episode we examine what we like to call “mini moral dilemmas”. We look at three moral dilemmas that occur across the three Dragon Age games. We apply three ethical theories: Kantian Deontology, Utilitarianism, and Ethics of Care in order to illustrate what makes these moral dilemmas genuine dilemmas and to illustrate how moral theories can help us thing about dilemmas more mindfully both in virtual space and beyond!
If you like the podcast, you can buy us a coffee (or tea, or–more likely–hot chocolate).
Want to know what Andraste’s Gadfly is about? Here’s a bit of an introduction to the podcast of two philosophers who are slightly obsessed with the Dragon Age games!
