Johnny Damon and Nietzsche, together at last!

Open Court Publishing's "Pop Culture and Philosophy" series started off with "Seinfeld and Philosophy" and "The Simpsons and Philosophy" a few years ago. By now it's up to nearly 40 volumes. Coming in 2010, if all goes well? "The Red Sox and Philosophy."

Michael Macomber, an adjunct professor at Fairfield University and a lifelong fan who grew up in Saco, Maine, has been commissioned to edit the book: He's posted a request for essays on various philosophy-related Web sites, in which he lists some of the issues he'd like to see engaged. These include: "issues in faith and redemption"; "Stoicism and the Red Sox"; how Red Sox fans' conception of their identity changed after 2004," "the 'pink hat phenomenon' and feminism"; and the ethical issues at stake when a player eschews mutual player-fan loyalty, potentially over an entire career, for a bigger payday (cough Johnny Damon).

Macomber, who lives in Boston and is finishing up a dissertation for The New School, in New York, on the aesthetic theories of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the third Earl of Shaftesbury (born 1671), would also like to find someone to comment on the visual presentation of the Sox -- uniforms, mascots, logos.

One chapter, already submitted, uses Nietzsche's "On the Genealogy of Morals" as a prism through which to view the Red Sox's successful overthrow of their longtime nemeses from New York, Macomber says. (From slave to master!) But Macomber could use some more proposals. If you're interested, email me at brainiac.email [at] gmail.com and I'll put you in touch with him. Or click the second link above and contact him directly. It's assumed that most of the contributors will be professional philosophers, but non-PhD's are not ruled out automatically.