Taylor Swift and Philosophy

CATHERINE M. ROBB is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Tilburg University, Netherlands. Her research interests include ethics, metaphysics, aesthetics, and applied philosophy, with a focus on the nature and value of ability, skill and talent, and related ethical implications. GEORGIE MILLS is a Research Fellow at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. She is primarily a philosopher of science, emotion, and medicine with a range of interests in the philosophy of pop culture. She has published work on Punk, Post-Punk, Britney Spears, and Ted Lasso.

Contributors viii

Introducing … Taylor Swift’s Philosophy Era xiv
Catherine M. Robb and Georgie Mills

“Who Is Taylor Swift Anyway? Ew” 1

1 Is Taylor Swift a Philosopher? 3
Catherine M. Robb

2 “You Should Find Another Guiding Light”: Is Taylor Swift Admirable? 12
Kate C.S. Schmidt

3 Eyes Open: Taylor Swift and the Philosophy of Easter Eggs 19
Eline Kuipers

4 Taylor Swift and the Ethics of Body Image 28
Gah-Kai Leung

5 So Mother for That: Taylor Swift and Childless Mothering 36
Lucy Britt and Brian Britt

“Look What You Made Me Do”: Reputation, Forgiveness, and Blame 47

6 Can I Forgive You for Breaking My Heart? 49
Sophia Pettigrove and Glen Pettigrove

7 How to Forgive an Innocent: Taylor, Kanye, and the Ethics of Forgiveness 58
Sarah Köglsperger

8 “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”: Goodwill as a Finite Resource 66
Georgie Mills

9 Taylor Swift’s Philosophy of Reputation 72
Catherine M. Robb and Roos Slegers

10 “It’s Me, Hi! I’m the Problem It’s Me”: Taylor Swift and Self- Blame 81
Agnès Baehni

“The Girl in the Dress Wrote You a Song” 89

11 Begin Again (Taylor’s Version): On Taylor Swift’s Repetition and Difference 91
King-Ho Leung

12 Is Taylor Swift’s Music Timeless?: A Metaphysical Proof 99
Patrick Dawson

13 “I Remember It All Too Well”: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Archival Art of Songwriting 107
Rebecca Keddie

14 Taylor’s Version: Rerecording, Narrative, and Self- Interpretation 116
Jana Alvara Carstens

“With My Calamitous Love and Insurmountable Grief” 127

15 Taylor Swift on the Values and Vulnerability of Love 129
Macy Salzberger

16 “Every Scrap of You Would Be Taken from Me”: Taylor Swift on Grief 137
Jonathan Birch

17 “What a Shame She Went Mad”: Anger, Affective Injustice, and Taylor Swift’s “mad woman” 147
Erica Bigelow

18 I’m Fine with My Spite: The Philosophy of Female Anger in the Work of Taylor Swift 154
Amanda Cercas Curry and Alba Curry

“I Should’ve Known”: Taylor Swift’s Philosophy of Knowledge 163

19 “Summer Love” or “Just a Summer Thing?”: Feminist Standpoint Epistemology and the folklore Love Triangle 165
Lottie Pike and Tom Beevers

20 The Trouble with Knowing You Were Trouble 174
Eric Scarffe and Katherine Valde

21 “I Knew Everything When I Was Young”: Examining the Wisdom of Youth 182
Urja Lakhani

22 How Do We Know What Taylor Swift Is Feeling? 189
Neil Mussett

“Back to December”: Fate, Memory, and Imagination 199

23 A Real Lasting Legacy: Memory, Imagination, and Taylor Swift 201
Christopher Buford

24 Stained Glass Windows in My Mind: Modality in the Imagery of Taylor Swift 208
Shoshannah Diehl

25 “Take Me to the Lakes”: Transcendentalism and Ecology in Taylor Swift’s folklore 216
Joshua Fagan

26 Wildest Dreams: Stoic Fate and Acceptance (Taylor’s Version) 225
David Hahn

27 Mythic Motifs in The Tortured Poets Department: “The Story Isn’t Mine Anymore” 231
Georgie Mills

Index of Terms and Names 238

Index of Taylor Swift’s Songs and Albums 241