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Philosophy Through Film

Morality, Metaphysics and the Meaning of Life. Philosophy Through Film. Kelly Inglis Office: Philosophy Department MB306 Office hours: by appointment Email: kellyinglis@yahoo.com. About the course. Wednesdays 2:00-5:00 Classroom: Meng Wah Complex T1

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Philosophy Through Film

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  1. Morality, Metaphysics and the Meaning of Life Philosophy Through Film Kelly Inglis Office: Philosophy Department MB306 Office hours: by appointment Email: kellyinglis@yahoo.com

  2. About the course Wednesdays 2:00-5:00 Classroom: MengWah Complex T1 For schedule, readings, announcements, etc., see course blog: kellyinglis.wordpress.com

  3. Course content • Philosophy through movies • Exploration of philosophical ideas, puzzles, problems and dilemmas as introduced through 10 thought-provoking movies • Every week: • Lecture on philosophical topic • Movie • Short post-movie discussion

  4. Tutorials • Tutorials to discuss how the movies handle the philosophical issues • 15 students per tutorial • Discussion is extremely important • You must attend 5 tutorials

  5. Tutorial arrangements • There are 10 tutorials for 10 movies • But you only attend 5 • Two categories of tutorials • Category one: The Matrix, Thank you for Smoking, Bicentennial Man, Memento, Groundhog Day • Category two: Quiz Show, Minority Report, the Prestige, Kate and Leopold, Life is Beautiful • Tutorial schedule will be posted next week. • Tutorials start on Sept. 15th

  6. Tutorial participation Tutorial presentations: Every week you will be given a list of questions about the movie. For one tutorial, you must prepare a short presentation (2-3 minutes) on your answer to one question and lead a discussion on this question in the tutorial This counts for 20% of your grade. For every tutorial, you must participate in the discussion. This counts for 30% of your grade.

  7. Portfolio • You must write a short answer (2 pages) to one question on each of 8 movies (out of 10). • Due at the end of the course. • 50% of your grade • Assessment summary: • Class presentation in tutorial: 20% • Tutorial participation: 30% • Portfolio: 50%

  8. Suggested readings • No required reading • Suggested readings every week • Copies of readings available in the Philosophy Department office • Ask Loletta

  9. What is philosophy? Tackling the big questions Morality What is moral? Where does morality come from? How do we decide what is moral? Metaphysics What is real? What can we know? What is a person? Do we have free will? What is logically possible? The Meaning of Life Does life have meaning? What makes a good life?

  10. Philosophical topics in this course • Skepticism • Morality • Paternalism vs. Individual Rights • Free Will • Personhood • Personal Identity • The Extended Mind • Problems and Paradoxes of Time Travel • The Meaning of Life • Interpreting Reality

  11. Skepticism • Is the world real? • What can we know? • Are we dreaming? • Are we brains in a vat? • Are we part of a computer program?

  12. Plato’s cave Plato • Ancient Greek philosopher • Approx. 427 BC – 348 BC • The Republic

  13. The cave

  14. Reality vs. illusion • The cave is an illusion • Outside the cave is reality • The prisoner’s know only the illusion • Are we like the prisoners? • Is there another world that is more real than this world? • Spectrum of reality: Illusion Reality shadows ordinary objects the Forms reflections the apparent world the real world

  15. Descartes French philosopher and mathematician (1596-1650) Radical skepticism Doubt everything I am dreaming. A demon is deceiving me.

  16. What cannot be doubted? I think therefore I am. Thoughts, ideas, perceptions are real. Everything else is in doubt. Maybe the world is not real.

  17. Zhuangzi • Ancient Chinese philosopher (4th century B.C.) • Dreamt he was a butterfly • “Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi.” (2, tr. Burton Watson 1968:49)

  18. Could you be dreaming right now? • Could your whole life be a dream? • How could you know? Plato vs. Descartes • Descartes: I am real, you are not • Plato: we’re in the same dream • Note: Plato taught that this world is not real but there is a higher reality. Descartes ultimately decided that the world we see and experience is real. Zhuangzi??

  19. Suggested readings on Skepticism Internet Sources: • Plato, Allegory of the Cave, at: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/platoscave.html • Descartes, First Meditation, Second Meditation (up to section 3), at: http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/mede.html • Daniel Dennett, “Where am I?”, at: http://www.cs.umu.se/kurser/TDBC12/HT99/Dennett.html On reserve in Philosophy Dept. Office:  • Stephen Law, The Philosophy Gym, Chapter 3, “Brain-Snatched”

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