Video: College professor discusses the philosophy of A Song of Ice and Fire for 85 minutes

Geroge R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books are vast and complex, which means they can sustain a great number of readings. BryndenBFish comes at the series from a political angle on his blog, and the themes of the series have been explored by a great many critics—some have even approached the series from an economic perspective. Dr. Gregory B. Sadler looks at it philosophically. Sadler, a philosophy professor, has a robust YouTube channel where he discusses, among a great many other things, the philosophical underpinnings of various works of literature. Earlier this month, A Song of Ice and Fire had its turn in the hot seat. Check out Sadler’s 85-minute discussion of the series below.

Sadler and his audience don’t talk philosophy until around 33 minutes in. First he goes over Martin’s biography, locates him in a long tradition of fantasy/sci-fi writers, and talks a bit about what makes him unique as an author. (Willingness to put in a lot of time into developing characters only to kill them and his point-of-view style.)

Here are some of the philosophical questions discussed:

• 33:35: Who’s the most evil character in the series? There are several contenders.
• 35:35: Relatedly, who’s the most manipulative character?
• 42:00: Is A Song of Ice and Fire nihilistic? Sadler argues that it’s not, since it doesn’t “tear down the highest moral values.” Still, it takes place in a brutal world where, at minimum, bad things can happen to good people.
• 48:20: Who deserves to rule, and should the notion of “deserving” even enter into the calculus?
• 58:00: Generally speaking, Martin’s characters are neither pure good nor pure evil. He’s interested in shades of gray. But just how gray are we talking, and where does that fit into philosophical frameworks developed by people like Plato?
• 1:04:45: Philospher Thomas Hobbes famously said that life is “nasty, brutish, and short.” The Game of Thrones parallels scream out. However, there’s more to that quote that most people know, which spins into an interesting discussion about societal norms.
• 1:09:10: Let’s talk moral dilemmas. What happens when the characters have to choose between two evils?

Sadler and his cohorts get some of the facts wrong. For example, they mispronounce some of the names, (how hard is it to say “Arya” properly?), and at 36:40, Sadler seems to be under the impression that the books didn’t establish that Olenna killed Joffrey. But those are quibbles. This is a fun look at what lies beneath Martin’s story.

If you’re interested, Sadler has also done videos on the philosophy of other works of science fiction and fantasy, including looks at Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. Le Guin. It’s food for thought. Chow down.

h/t Reddit