Philosophy Conferences and Calls for Papers

Call for Abstracts

J. Jeremy Wisnewski, Editor wisnewskij@hartwick.edu
 William Irwin, General Editor wtirwin@kings.edu

The Blackwell Philosophy and Popular Culture Series

To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact William Irwin, wtirwin@kings.edu.

Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader. Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.

Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:

Why The Office sucks: a Marxist critique of Dunder-Mifflin (the ethics of unionization and union-busting); comparative aesthetics—the UK original and the US version; accidental virtue and vice (David Brent, Michael Scott, and accidental wisdom); desire and action: how desire effects what we do (Jim and Pam); sexual harassment in The Office (does Michael sexually harass Ryan?); the ethics of race relations in The Office (is David Brent/Michael Scott a racist?); trying to be rational—problematic reasoning in The Office; what Michael (or David, or Dwight, or Gareth) thinks he knows—epistemology and The Office; the perils of wage labor: alienation in the business world; the nature of friendship and the nature of love (Is Jim Pam’s friend?, does Pam love Roy?); ethical issues in business (privacy, drug-testing—should Michael’s use Dwight’s urine for a drug test? Should there be drug tests?—the abuse of authority, the ethics of sales); problems and paradoxes of self-deception (Dwight Shrute, assistant (to the) regional manager); class struggle in The Office (the warehouse versus the office staff); problems of identity in The Office (are the shows the same? Are the characters the same? Is Dwight the same, after his concussion?); the ethics of downsizing (closing Slough or Scranton); dealing with idiots morally (are we morally obligated to tolerate stupidity?); meeting the absurdity of labor with levity (Jim’s office Olympics, screenplay rehearsals, and practical jokes); the attempt to be authentic: why Dwight Schrute is a hero (or Gareth Keenan!); the metaphysics of social reality; Tim and Gareth’s army/homosexual conversations (the non-subjectivity of linguistic meaning); an Aristotelian vision of the good (David Brent at the last office party); the moral force of our commitments to one another (should Pam honor her commitment to Roy, even though he’s awful?); the meaning of life; moral failure in David Brent/Michael Scott; the joy of watching others suffer (the aesthetics of black comedy).   

Contributor guidelines:

1. Abstract of paper (100-500 words).

2. CV or resume for each author and co-author.

3. Submission deadline for abstracts:  Nov. 1, 2006

4. Submission deadline for first drafts of accepted papers (tentative): February 1, 2007

5. Submission deadline for final papers June 1, 2007.

6. Abstracts should be submitted by e-mail, with or without Word attachment.

Send by e-mail to:

J. Jeremy Wisnewski

wisnewskij@hartwick.edu