Choose your own philosophy adventure!
September 30, 2013 3:25 AM Subscribe
The open university have created a choose your own adventure game to explore some ideas in philosophy.
Ideas explored include whether one can be weak willed, the idea of collective consent, and whether an experience machine is as good as the real thing.
Ideas explored include whether one can be weak willed, the idea of collective consent, and whether an experience machine is as good as the real thing.
Ooh! This is fun.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:58 AM on September 30, 2013
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:58 AM on September 30, 2013
If you're looking to investigate some philosophers you agree with, there are a few places you can look. You could try David Hume, who agrees with you on the nature of desire. You and Aristotle feel the same way about weak will. And Max Weber feels similarly to you with regard to whether it's possible to be too rational.
And if you want to challenge your opinions and seek out people you instinctively disagree with, there are plenty of them as well. You think very differently to Aristotle and Epicurus about whether desires can be rational. You disagree with Socrates and Thomas Hobbes about weak will. You disagree with John Rawls about collective responsibility.
This was an awesome journey.
Thanks!
posted by Renoroc at 4:47 AM on September 30, 2013
And if you want to challenge your opinions and seek out people you instinctively disagree with, there are plenty of them as well. You think very differently to Aristotle and Epicurus about whether desires can be rational. You disagree with Socrates and Thomas Hobbes about weak will. You disagree with John Rawls about collective responsibility.
This was an awesome journey.
Thanks!
posted by Renoroc at 4:47 AM on September 30, 2013
Man, the stuff people are doing in Twine is amazing. Thanks for posting.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:09 AM on September 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:09 AM on September 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
This was cool, but the so-called analysis fell flat. It couldn't even decide whether I "agreed with the blackbird more often than the robin" or "agreed with the robin and the blackbird about the same amount."
I think people are too complex to extract a general philosophy by analyzing their choices or beliefs in specific situations, or when asked a specific way. Maybe I was primed to agree with the blackbird in a particular case, when another time in another situation I would have agreed with the robin. Maybe I have negative associations with robins for some reason completely unrelated to the exercise. Philosophy and psychology collide.
posted by Foosnark at 7:23 AM on September 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think people are too complex to extract a general philosophy by analyzing their choices or beliefs in specific situations, or when asked a specific way. Maybe I was primed to agree with the blackbird in a particular case, when another time in another situation I would have agreed with the robin. Maybe I have negative associations with robins for some reason completely unrelated to the exercise. Philosophy and psychology collide.
posted by Foosnark at 7:23 AM on September 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
I love this!
posted by likeatoaster at 9:03 AM on September 30, 2013
posted by likeatoaster at 9:03 AM on September 30, 2013
So you're telling me there is an ending besides just staying in paradise forever?
posted by likeatoaster at 11:59 AM on September 30, 2013
posted by likeatoaster at 11:59 AM on September 30, 2013
Nice game but the result sounded like a Forer effect.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:56 PM on September 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:56 PM on September 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
Its also mobile friendly, which is unusual for these sort of things (well, at least in dolphin browser on android)! I get the critisism of the analysis section, but I don't think that was really the point (you have to click through to it at the end), and it gives you a fun pointer towards philosophers you might be interested in. I thought it was fun how it teased you into thinking in things in a different way by involving you in different situations, and was a pretty compellingly told adventure along the way.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 1:23 AM on October 1, 2013
posted by Cannon Fodder at 1:23 AM on October 1, 2013
That was great. I'm seriously thinking about doing the next NaNoWriMo in twine now.
posted by Acey at 5:17 AM on October 1, 2013
posted by Acey at 5:17 AM on October 1, 2013
This was clever. I disagree with the analysis at the end, because I found the choices to be illogical in some cases, but overall, I still think its a clever use of both tools and knowledge.
posted by dejah420 at 9:23 AM on October 1, 2013
posted by dejah420 at 9:23 AM on October 1, 2013
Damn that was slow. Not just the pacing, but the bits where it made you wait to read the next paragraph, over and over. Ugh.
posted by Hello Dad, I'm in Jail at 5:03 AM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Hello Dad, I'm in Jail at 5:03 AM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by JHarris at 3:50 AM on September 30, 2013 [1 favorite]