Introducing Philosophy Through Film: Key Texts, Discussion, and Film Selections

Source Acknowledgments

Part I: Introduction: Philosophical Analysis, Argument, and the Relevance of Thought Experiments

Films: Monty Python, "The Argument Skit"; Pulp Fiction; Seinfeld episode: The Soup

Part II: The Problem of Perception

Films: Total Recall; The Matrix; Star Trek TV episode: The Menagerie

Introduction

1. First Meditation and excerpt from Sixth Meditation: René Descartes

2. Some Further Considerations Concerning Our Simple Ideas of Sensation: John Locke

3. Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous: George Berkeley

4. Of the Sceptical and Other Systems of Philosophy: David Hume

5. The Self and the Common World: A. J. Ayer

6. Brains in a Vat: Hilary Putnam

7. The Structure of Skeptical Arguments and its Metaepistemological Implications: Richard Fumerton

8. The Experience Machine: Robert Nozick

Part III: Philosophy of Mind

Films: What Dreams May Come; Bicentennial Man; Heaven Can Wait; The Sixth Day; The Prestige; Multiplicity; Star Trek TV episode: Turn About Intruder

Introduction

9. Second Meditation: René Descartes

10. Descartes’ Myth: Gilbert Ryle

11. Sensations and Brain Processes: J. J. C. Smart

12. What Is It Like to Be a Bat?: Thomas Nagel

13. What Mary Didn’t Know: Frank Jackson

14. Minds, Brains, and Programs: John R. Searle

15. Mad Pain and Martian Pain: David Lewis

16. Eliminative Materialism: Paul Churchland

17. Of Identity and Diversity: John Locke

18. The Self and the Future: Bernard Williams

19. From Reasons and Persons: Derek Parfit

20. A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality: John Perry

21. On the Immortality of the Soul: David Hume

Part IV: EthicsA. Act Consequentialism and its Critics

Films: Abandon Ship!; Fail Safe; Dirty Harry; Sophie’s Choice; Saving Private Ryan; Judgment at Nuremberg; Minority Report: 24 (Season 3: 6.00–7.00 a.m.); Titanic; Vertical Limit

Introduction

22. Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill

23. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals: Immanuel Kant

24. What Makes Right Acts Right?: W. D. Ross

25. A Critique of Utilitarianism: Bernard Williams

26. An Outline of a System of Utilitarian Ethics: J. J. C. Smart

27. Intending Harm: Shelly Kagan

28. United States v. Holmes (1842)

29. The Queen v Dudley and Stephens

30. War and Massacre: Thomas Nagel

B. Obligations to Intimates

Films: The English Patient; Casablanca; The Third Man; The Music Box; High Noon; Nick of Time; 24 (Season 1: 7.00–8.00 a.m.)

Introduction

31. From Nicomachean Ethics: Aristotle

32. Self and Others: C. D. Broad

33. Filial Morality: Christina Hoff Sommers

34. Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality: Peter Railton

35. Relatives and Relativism: Diane Jeske and Richard Fumerton

36. Families, Friends, and Special Obligations: Diane Jeske

37. An Ethic of Caring: Nel Noddings

Part V: Philosophy of Time

Films: Somewhere in Time; Back to the Future; Planet of the Apes; Frequency; A Sound of Thunder

Introduction

38. Making Things to Have Happened: Roderick M. Chisholm and Richard Taylor

39. Space and Time: Richard Taylor

40. The Paradoxes of Time Travel: David Lewis

Part VI: Free Will, Foreknowledge, and Determinism

Films: Minority Report: The Boys From Brazil: A Clockwork Orange: The Omen: Compulsion: Law and Order ("black rage" defense), Season 5, Episode 69414, Rage (2/01/95)

Introduction

41. From De Interpretatione: Aristotle

42. Of Liberty and Necessity: David Hume

43. Meaning and Free Will: John Hospers

44. Determinism: J. R. Lucas

45. Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person: Harry G. Frankfurt

46. The M’Naghten Rules (1843): House of Lords

47. The Insanity Defense (1956): The American Law Institute

48. What Is So Special About Mental Illness?: Joel Feinberg

Part VII: Philosophy of Religion

Films: Jason and the Argonauts; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; Dogma; YouTube: Mr Deity and the Evil

Introduction

49. The Wager: Blaise Pascal

50. The Ontological Argument: Anselm

51. The Cosmological and Design Arguments: William L. Rowe

52. Evil and Omnipotence: J. L. Mackie

53. Why I Am Not a Christian: Bertrand Russell