Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction: Play Well, Philosophize Well! 1Sondra Bacharach and Roy T. Cook
Part I LEGO® and Creativity 5
1 Constructing Creativity 7Mary Beth Willard
2 Building Blocks of Thought: LEGO® and the Philosophy of Play 17Tyler Shores
3 LEGO® Formalism in Architecture 27Saul Fisher
4 “That Was My Idea!”: LEGO® Ideas and Intellectual Property 39Michael Gettings
Part II LEGO®, Ethics, and Rules 49
5 “You Know the Rules!” What’s Wrong with The Man Upstairs? 51Jon Robson
6 Searching for “The Special”: The LEGO® Movie and the Value of (LEGO®) Persons 59Alexander Quanbeck
7 LEGO® and the Social Blocks of Autonomy 69Eric Chelstrom
8 Building and Dwelling with Heidegger and LEGO® Toys 79Ellen Miller
Part III LEGO® and Identity 89
9 Ninjas, Kobe Bryant, and Yellow Plastic: The LEGO® Minifigure and Race 91Roy T. Cook
10 Girl, LEGO® Friends is not your Friend! Does LEGO® Construct Gender Stereotypes? 103Rebecca Gutwald
11 Representation in Plastic and Marketing: The Significance of the LEGO® Women Scientists 113Rhiannon Grant and Ruth Wainman
12 Real Signature Figures: LEGO® Minifigures and the Human Individual 123Robert M. Mentyka
Part IV LEGO®, Consumption, and Culture 133
13 LEGO® Values: Image and Reality 135Sondra Bacharach and Ramon Das
14 Small Farms, Big Ideas: LEGO® Farm and Agricultural Idealism 145Craig Van Pelt
15 The Reality of LEGO®: Building the Apocalypse 153David Lueth
16 The American Archipelago: Touring the Nation at Miniland USA 163Samantha J. Boardman
Part V LEGO®, Metaphysics, and Math 173
17 The Brick, the Plate, and the Uncarved Block: LEGO® as an Expression of Dao 175Steve Bein
18 LEGO®, Impermanence, and Buddhism 185David Kahn
19 LEGO® and the Building Blocks of Metaphysics 197Stephan Leuenberger
20 What Can You Build? 207Bob Fischer
21 Playing with LEGO® and Proving Theorems 217Fenner Tanswell
Glossary 227Alice Leber-Cook and Roy T. Cook
Index 233