[eBook Code] LEGO and Philosophy (eBook Code, 1st)

Notes on Contributors ix

Introduction: Play Well, Philosophize Well! 1
Sondra Bacharach and Roy T. Cook

Part I LEGO® and Creativity 5

1 Constructing Creativity 7
Mary Beth Willard

2 Building Blocks of Thought: LEGO® and the Philosophy of Play 17
Tyler Shores

3 LEGO® Formalism in Architecture 27
Saul Fisher

4 “That Was My Idea!”: LEGO® Ideas and Intellectual Property 39
Michael Gettings

Part II LEGO®, Ethics, and Rules 49

5 “You Know the Rules!” What’s Wrong with The Man Upstairs? 51
Jon Robson

6 Searching for “The Special”: The LEGO® Movie and the Value of (LEGO®) Persons 59
Alexander Quanbeck

7 LEGO® and the Social Blocks of Autonomy 69
Eric Chelstrom

8 Building and Dwelling with Heidegger and LEGO® Toys 79
Ellen Miller

Part III LEGO® and Identity 89

9 Ninjas, Kobe Bryant, and Yellow Plastic: The LEGO® Minifigure and Race 91
Roy T. Cook

10 Girl, LEGO® Friends is not your Friend! Does LEGO® Construct Gender Stereotypes? 103
Rebecca Gutwald

11 Representation in Plastic and Marketing: The Significance of the LEGO® Women Scientists 113
Rhiannon Grant and Ruth Wainman

12 Real Signature Figures: LEGO® Minifigures and the Human Individual 123
Robert M. Mentyka

Part IV LEGO®, Consumption, and Culture 133

13 LEGO® Values: Image and Reality 135
Sondra Bacharach and Ramon Das

14 Small Farms, Big Ideas: LEGO® Farm and Agricultural Idealism 145
Craig Van Pelt

15 The Reality of LEGO®: Building the Apocalypse 153
David Lueth

16 The American Archipelago: Touring the Nation at Miniland USA 163
Samantha J. Boardman

Part V LEGO®, Metaphysics, and Math 173

17 The Brick, the Plate, and the Uncarved Block: LEGO® as an Expression of Dao 175
Steve Bein

18 LEGO®, Impermanence, and Buddhism 185
David Kahn

19 LEGO® and the Building Blocks of Metaphysics 197
Stephan Leuenberger

20 What Can You Build? 207
Bob Fischer

21 Playing with LEGO® and Proving Theorems 217
Fenner Tanswell

Glossary 227
Alice Leber-Cook and Roy T. Cook

Index 233