"Waking life" is definitely a must watch, although the animation style can be a bit much. Also try "I Heart Huckabees".
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Philip Dick novella that Bladerunner was based on is considerably deeper, philosophically, than the movie. And doesn't take much longer to read than the movie does to watch, counting getting in an out of the theater, etc. And it's cheaper, total cost, probably. Free at the library. And when you are discussing it with your fellow philosophers, you can have the examples and scenes right there indexed by page number, simultaneously with the discussion, for common reference. You can even text each other while talking, and put up Powerpoint slides with bullets on the Important Points, creating a true Multimedia Learning Environment for Philosophical Meaning Transmission. For that matter, if reading is dull and difficult for the modern philosopher, books or posters of lithographs and photographic reproductions of paintings offer the same convenience of example, and much of the philosophical richness and density, of ordinary novels. "The Night, Death, and the Devil" by Durer, for example, provides a great fund of philosophical issues, and can be scanned for details by eye in a few milliseconds, a considerable savings over the "select scene" video option. Movies ? "Galaxy Quest" is very deep, philosophically. If you supply the philosophy, of course.
waking life hi guys, I have just signed up in the forum. I have found it, while surfing the net for philosophy movies! I found your conversation about philosophy movies but its 5 years ago!! I am a student in the 1st year philosopny in Germany. I would like to suggest to you my favorite movie! Waking Life. I find it outstanding!! anybody saw it?
Welcome to Sciforums, nermeen! I'm still here after 5 years. Well, 7 actually. My friend has given me a copy of Waking life and told that I will like it, but I haven't yet seen it. Perhaps I should see it sooner. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
American Beauty So, this is picking up on a very old series of posts, but some had previously asked what the philosophical themes in American Beauty are. Certainly there are many that can be teased out, but I have one in particular to share. It was suggested to me by a prof to examine the character of Ricky in a Nietzschean light, i.e. as an instantiation of the superman. Watch the scene in the third act in which his father beats him and ask yourself the question, "Which of the two characters has the power in this interaction?" It is this ubermensch-like quality that Kevin Spacey's character notices when he first meets Ricky. He spends the rest of the movie imitating Ricky's freedom of action.
Huh? Mom, what the hell are you doing on sciforums? This is so embarrassing! /runs away in tears P.s. Welcome
Just a suggestion I know this is an old thread however maybe someone like me looking for suggestions will stumble upon this my suggestion is Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel It's an extremely interesting movie about Time Travel with 3 guys in a bar
Metaethics comes in in many, many Hollywood movies. You have the deontologists vs. the consequentialists. IOW rule based deciders vs. greatest good for the greatest number bean counters. A Few Good Men could be seen this way, for example..... jack Nicholson represents the 'fuck the rules' camp. He knows what must be done to effectively defend the country and this isn't always nice, polite and moral by everyday standards. Pretty much everyone else represent the deontologists, deciding that what he did was immoral, period. Nicholson gives a strong enough performance however that even merely OK movie leaves the question in the air. But the tension is all over the place. Anywhere the hero puts everyone at risk to save a child or whatever. Dirty Harry movies of course.
free will/determinism - 12 monkeys neo-Buddhism, solipsism - The Thin Red Line Solipsism - Solaris (I prefer the original - Tarkovsky Identity - Most David Lynch films - Mulholland Drive comes to mind. multiverses, determinism - Donnie Darko, The Butterfly Effect
There is an introductory textbook for philosophy with this approach: Philosophy Goes to the Movies An Introduction to Philosophy By Christopher Falzon http://www.routledge-philosophy.com/books/Philosophy-Goes-to-the-Movies-isbn9780415357265
I found some Wikis listing philosophical films, with pictures, videos, short descriptions and reviews to each one: http://www.dharmaflix.com/wiki/Spiritual_Films,_perhaps_not_particularly_Buddhist_Dharma http://www.dharmaflix.com/wiki/DharmaFlix.com_Main_Page
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama with Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, title comes from the term Dasein, used by the German phenomenological philosopher Martin Heidegger.
An obvious one would be The Seventh Seal for the embrace of life over faith (with an obvious nod to Kierkegaard's "knight of faith"). Another obvious one would be Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, for any number of topics, but one being the differing moralities and world views shown by the samurai (who are honorable, fearless and strong) and the farmers (who kill helpless prisoners, cry and show fear and are weak, but who are nonetheless declared the real victors by the head of the samurai, and not the samurai themselves. Alternately there is the theme of the farmers as representing the passive and feminine, and the samurai the masculine. For personal identity and consciousness, I'd go with Ghost in the Machine over Short Circuit. In GitM, you have a human who we know is conscious whose consciousness is submerged entirely into the digital, and what such a transformation could mean to society, as we all are submerged to varying degrees into that world. For skepticism, I'd think Total Recall where you are constantly wondering what to believe about Quaid. For existentialism, there's Leaving Las Vegas (though the Seventh Seal also fits, come to think of it). For the definition of the self there's The Fly (are you inescapably what your DNA makes you?) and Gattica. For the nature of free will, there's Minority Report and Gattica and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead (which itself also raises a lot of existentialist notions).
gotta agree with you there in my opinion, in order to have a general understanding on a broad spectrum of philosophical topics your best bet is to watch Waking Life and read Sophie's World
I thought the Box is an excellent allegory for the state, though the writer may have been coming at it from a quasi-christian perspective of morals and not intended the parallels. Superficially it appears to deal with lifeboat ethical scenerios but I think its commentary is grounded in everyday choices. Synecdoche New York grapples with mortality, the self and other, and time. (all Charlie Kaufmann movies are reccomended) Moon is a great little flim that meditates on the relationship of memory to identity.
