Why is the Grim Darkness of the Far Future so Interesting?
This talk by Dr Thomas Arnold is based on an article he wrote for Blackwell’s ‘And philosophy’ website, posted 11th January 2023.
8 RESULTS
Rule Consequentialism and the Edict of Nikaea
In the Horus Heresy series, the Edict of Nikaea looms large as one of the setting’s most pivotal narrative events. With the Edict, the Emperor proscribed the use of Warp-derived psyker powers by the Legiones Astartes and nominally disbanded the psychically-gifted Librarius orders—at great cost both to the individual Astartes of the Librarius and to …
In the Name of the Emperor? Authority and Pluralism in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future
Superficially, the Imperium of Man within Games Workshop’s ‘Warhammer 40,000’ fictional universe is presented as a pastiche theocratic autocracy. Its sprawling territory is ruled by the Lord Commander of the Imperium and the Council of the High Lords of Terra on behalf of the God Emperor of Mankind. At a mundane level, Imperial authority is …
Occult Infrastructures: Venerate the Machine
Within the grimdark future of 41st millennium technology is a relatively occult force, often operating in ways that both pervert physics and subvert expectations. While the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus may have a relatively nuanced understanding of technology when compared to the Imperial laity, the praxis of the red-robed priests goes beyond the quotidian …
Abandon reason, know only war! From Just War to just War in Warhammer 40k
Abstract Warhammer 40k shows humanity in a complex, yet simple situation. Surrounded by multiple hostile species, war changed from a project to unite all humanity under the guide of the emperor to a eternal necessity, no matter what the cost of ‘xenos’ or even human lives. This raises questions about legitimate self-defense, imperial conquest, genocide …
Only Beasts Fear Nothing: Philosophical Reflections on Fear and Space Marines in the Horus Heresy Series
Abstract One well-known piece of lore about Space Marines in Warhammer fiction is that they “know no fear.” Fans of the Horus Heresy series, in particular, will have read that Space Marines are not “built to feel fear,” that they are “immune to fear,” and that they are without “the capacity for fear.” However, fans …
Martin Heidegger’s Critique of Technology exemplified by the Cult Mechanicus
When influential as well as controversial philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote “Die Frage nach der Technik” (1954), he did not have in mind the dark age of technology, but rather the danger of a reduction of human being to a resource (“Bestand”) inherent to the purely technical world-view of our time. Most perfidiously, this “Gefahr” doesn’t …
The Emperor’s Great Crusade, ‘instrumental reason’ and the ‘Dialectic of Enlightenment’: The Horus Heresy series from the perspective of philosophy of history
One would expect the Horus Heresy series to only expand on background information already available in Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks and codices to create fully-fledged novels. With the first novel ‘Horus Rising’ (written by Dan Abnett and published in 2006), however, the authors began already to add new aspects to the background story. For example, they …