Manuel Darío Palacio Muñoz
"The Philosophy of Castlevania" contains a philosophical analysis of the Castlevania saga, drawing from the classic video games, the Netflix series, and the Lords of Shadow saga . The philosophical presuppositions of this analysis go back to a Philosophy of Compensation , as conceived by Odo Marquard (1929-2015) in his texts. Likewise, the figure of Kierkegaard is fundamental to our interpretation.
As is evident, this is a book on philosophy and video games, and we are not afraid to go from philosophical concepts to game mechanics in the same reflection. We believe that this is a valuable exercise, because it opens a space for research and dissemination of the relationship between philosophy and video games. This work arises from a YouTube channel "Philosophy and Video Games" created in the Covid pandemic, in 2020. The videos that we have shared there have given us inputs and ideas to write this book.
Additionally, I want to say that this book has a curious origin. I wrote it for my fortieth birthday, because the decade begins and I want to think that I am barely halfway through my life. As a philosopher, the question about life coincides with the question about death and reflecting on one necessarily implies a reflection on the other. And as a lover of video games, this question comes to me when I pick up a controller and fall off the cliffs of a game over and over again.
Content
The thesis that we defend is clear: Dracula , in particular the Castlevania version, becomes the archetype of the contemporary human being who, in the absence of God and under the weight of his own pain, builds a narrative of pain and loneliness. To develop this thesis, we will follow the path formulated by the philosopher Odo Marquard , who considers that the history of modern philosophy develops as aphilosophy of compensation in the face of loss, in the face of what we did not achieve, in the face of what we long for and in the face of what we say goodbye to. Thus, this philosophy of compensation has shown that the modern project to understand pain begins with Theodicy , but fails because of the partiality of its answers. After theodicy, the philosophy of history arises , as an attempt to adopt the position of an absent God; but such a path fails because it always uses an alibi, in the future, that promises an improvement of the present that never comes. Finally, after the philosophy of history, the path of anthropology opens , as the question of the human being who suffers and the ways in which he compensates for his own pain.
Therefore, we have divided the corpus of work into three chapters:
The Failed Theodicy and the Origin of Dracula
A Philosophy of Blood History
What is man? - A measly pile of secrets.
We develop these three chapters developing, in turn, various sections in which we articulate such suggestive topics as: the failure of all theodicy; Dracula's origin in Castlevania Lament of Innocence ; History as a curse in Dracula's Curse or in Simon's Quest , as well as the monstrosity of the man without God , a wonderful section in which we work on the conversations that Isaac has with the monster-philosopher in the Netflix series.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
LANGUAGE | BINDING | EDITION | ISBN | YEAR | PAGES |
Spanish | Paperback | 9798410916707 | 2022 | 129 |
OTHER NAMES
La Filosofía de Castlevania
TAGS
Authors: #ManuelDaríoPalacioMuñoz
Publishers: #SelfPublished
Languages: #Spanish
Format: #Paperback
Accessibility: N/A
Year: #Year2022
Companies:
#Konami (Konami)
Public Figures:
N/A
Games:
#Castlevania (Castlevania)
Misc:
N/A
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