CFP: Popular Culture and Philosophy: Psych and Philosophy

Edited by Robert Arp ([email protected])

1. Submit abstracts of no more than 300 words to: [email protected]
2. Abstracts due: June 1, 2012
3. Notification of accepted abstracts: June 15, 2012
4. First drafts due: September 1, 2012 (flexible)
5. 10 to 12-paged papers are written in a conversational style for a lay audience (this definitely ain’t no JPhil, Mind, or Nous publication)

Any relevant topic considered, but here are some possibilities:

• Crime scenes and the relationship between deduction, induction, and abduction
• The use of logical fallacies to influence or manipulate beliefs
• Pseudo-science vs. science
• Psychic abilities, hypnosis, and skepticism
• A psychosocial explanation of a psychic’s “abilities”
• The ability to recall numerous facts and what counts as being “smart”
• Shawn’s abilities and Bloom’s taxonomy (remembering, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation)
• Photographic memory and other forms of evidence
• Knowledge of the facts vs. getting lucky regarding the facts
• Non-creative vs. creative forms of problem solving
• Solo vs. communal problem solving
• Shawn’s justified true beliefs, or lack thereof
• Shawn’s proofs and disproofs for the existence of god
• Yin, Yang, and dualist themes in Psych
• Straight men, funny men, and the philosophy of humor
• Shawn’s relationship to his father, moral education, and virtue ethics
• Shawn, Gus, and the nature of moral and intellectual friendship
• An analysis of the nature of murder vs. other forms of killing
• Deontological vs. utilitarian themes in Psych
• The moral perspectives of the various characters in Psych
• Rationale for the continued use of psychic detectives by the police
• The continued apparent need for charlatans in our 21st-century societies
• Shawn, Gus, race relations, and Psych

Psych and Philosophy will be a book in Open Court Publishing Company’s Popular Culture and Philosophy Series: http://www.opencourtbooks.com/categories/pcp.htm. Submit ideas for possible future PCP books to the series editor, George A. Reisch, at:[email protected].  Thanks for your consideration.