One of my favorite things about LOST is all the characters named after philosophers. Lostpedia needs to update their page though. They list the following connections:
Character………………..Philosopher
Mikhail Bakunin………….Mikhail Bakunin
Edmund Burke…………..Edmund Burke
Boone Carlyle…………..Thomas Carlyle
Anthony Cooper………..Anthony Cooper
Hugo (Hurley)………….Hugo De Groot
Desmond David Hume…………….David Hume
John Locke……………..John Locke
Danielle Rousseau……..Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Now I am sure I’ve missed some, but I’ll list some off the top of my head that they haven’t added yet. Help me fill in the gaps if you know some.
Ms. Hawking, who appears when Desmond slips through time, represents Stephen Hawking, who wrote A Brief History of Time, which discusses wormholes.
Richard Alpert is Dr. Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass) This seems clear from the Hindu spirituality and the references to Aldous Huxley’s Island. (side note: Do people age on the island? Walt ages. Ben ages. But they, presumably leave the island [the boat and the submarine].)
BF Skinner is, of course, mentioned, and the Dharma Initiative is an excercise in Skinner’s behavioralism. Okay, back on track.
At least two of the four new characters are definitely named after philosophers.
Daniel Faraday is a physicist named after the physicist Richard Faraday.
The coolest one to date is Charlotte Lewis. Charlotte Staples Lewis=Clive Staples Lewis=CS Lewis. How freaking cool is that? CS Lewis on the island. In Prince Caspian, the first thing the children do in Narnia is play in the water. What is the first thing Charlotte does in the neo-Narnia? Play in the water. The way time works in Narnia would make sense of the Richard, Walt, Ben aging thing above, but that’s off topic again.
Frank Lapidus may be named after the Russian anarchist Vladimir Lapidus, but Lostpedia suggests that he is a reference to the movie Sleeper, where Lapidus is a man struck by lightning. That also makes sense. Could be both.
Miles Straume is obviously maelstrom, which with all the Homer references, probably sets him up as Charybdis, which makes me wonder who will be his Scylla.
Finally, here’s an interesting theory on Benjamin Linus. Of course, Linus is always the one philosophizing in Peanuts, so why not the simple explanation? Even wikipedia calls him a philosopher.
I’m sure there are more, but it’s one in the morning. Help me compile some more philosopher references.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I love that stuff, too! It’s such a cool show.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Okay, somebody said that the creators say there is only a short time difference on the island (like 30 seconds), so something else must be going on. I’m not sure what.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Sayid Jarrah=Edward Said
I think the character whose last name is Burke is Juliet. Also, the people who founded the Dharma initiative on the island are the de Groots.
Could stretch and say Charlie is named for Charles Pierce, or Karl is named for Karl Marx, or that Michael is for Michel Foucault, but that might be pushing it.
I LOVE this show.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Good catch on Sayid-Said. I’ll buy that one.
Juliet is a Burke too, but I can’t get over the Edmund Burke (her ex-husband) being more direct.
Yeah, Karl popped through my mind as Marx. Charlie and Michael would be a hard sell without some new evidence.
And what is “Christian Shepherd” all about?
February 10th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I don’t think it even registered with me that Juliet’s ex-husband’s name was Edmund.
I love the name “Christian Shepherd,” especially considering how many people on that island or related to people on that island are named for saints. And now we have the sinister “Abaddon” to deal with…hm.
A professor here, David Lavery, wrote a book on Lost a few years ago, and there is a huge following for it in our department. I watch it with four friends and we have to analyze every single detail after every episode, lol.
February 10th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I didn’t even catch his name! That’s really interesting!
February 10th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
LOVE the CS Lewis nod. It’s nice to have a fun show with brains, isn’t it? Can’t wait for next week (and the week after that, and the week after that…) Comics aren’t exactly philosophy, but did you notice that the four newbies are “The Fantastic Four?” See Entertainment Weekly online for more on that.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Hey Rick, have you ventured a guess as to whose funeral it was that Jack was attending later on? My bro and I have an inkling.
A more interesting question is: why is Christian Shepherd the likely incarnation of “Jacob”?
February 13th, 2008 at 10:16 am
oooooooohh, Nathan, I think you’re onto something with that Jacob thing…