Zelda and Philosophy
Call for Abstracts
Edited by Luke Cuddy
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
Please circulate and post widely. Apologies for cross-posting.
To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact the Series Editor, William Irwin, williamirwin@kings.edu
Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium. Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader.
Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:
Is Link Non-Binary? Gender Identity in Hyrule
The Princess and Feminism: Evolution of an Archetype
Relentless Categorization: Seeing Hyrule through a Critical Social Justice Lens
Who is Link? Does More Freedom in the Gameworld Lead to Deeper Identification?
Buddhist Non-Identity: Playing Zelda without a Self
Zelda’s Ship of Theseus: The Player’s Connection to Link as an Argument for the Continuity Criterion of Self
In the Open World of Hyrule, How Much Freedom Does Link Really Have?
Another Look at Timeline Theory after Tears of the Kingdom
Constructing “Reality” via Tears of the Kingdom’s Building System
Is Hyrule Non-Dual? Advaita Vedanta and Link’s Case against Dualism
The Problem of Evil in Hyrule: Why did the Goddesses Create the Monsters Too?
Eternal recurrence and Majora’s Mask: What if We Could Do Things Over?
Knowledge and Wisdom in Hyrule
Who Needs a Tutorial? Exploration, Discovery, and Knowledge
Puzzles, Failure, and Learning in Breath of the Wild
Link’s Coming of Age: Developing Wisdom and Self-Knowledge in Hyrule
Literal Differences in Perspective: 2D Link vs 3D Link
Shortcuts to Knowledge and Fast Travel
Can Link Escape the Cave? Skepticism of Reality in Hyrule
Total Freedom: Zelda and the New Interactive Art
Can Link do wrong? God, Evil, and Choice in Hyrule
Confucius, Virtue, and Link’s Development of Character
Fear in Tears of the Kingdom: Navigating the Depths Literally and Emotionally
Political Engagement in Hyrule: Does Link Belong to a Political Party?
Link as Investigative Reporter: Penn, Journalism, and the Right to be Informed
Submission Guidelines:
- Submission deadline for abstracts (350-500 words) and CVs: June 3
- Submission deadline for drafts of accepted papers: September 4
Kindly submit by e-mail (with or without Word attachment) to zeldaandphilosophy@gmail.com
