Philosophy through Film

By Mary M. Litch, Amy Karofsky, Amy D. Karofsky

Book Overview

Many of the classic questions of philosophy have been raised, illuminated, and addressed in celluloid. In this Third Edition of Philosophy through Film, Mary M. Litch teams up with a new co-author, Amy Karofsky, to show readers how to watch films with a sharp eye for their philosophical content. Together, the authors help students become familiar with key topics in all of the major areas in Western philosophy and master the techniques of philosophical argumentation.

The perfect size and scope for a first course in philosophy, the book assumes no prior knowledge of philosophy.　 It is an excellent teaching resource and learning tool, introducing students to key topics and figures in philosophy through thematic chapters, each of which is linked to one or more "focus films" that illustrate a philosophical problem or topic.

Revised and expanded, the Third Edition features:

A completely revised chapter on "Relativism," now re-titled "Truth" with coverage of the correspondence theory, the pragmatist theory, and the coherence theory.

The addition of four new focus films: Inception, Moon, Gone Baby Gone, God on Trial.

Revisions to the General Introduction that include a discussion of critical reasoning.

Revisions to the primary readings to better meet the needs of instructors and students, including the addition of three new primary readings: excerpts from Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Philosophy, from William James' Pragmatism: A New Way for Some Old Ways of Thinking, and from J. L. Mackie's "Evil and Omnipotence".

Updates and expansion to the companion website, including a much expanded list of films relevant to the various subfields of philosophy.

Films examined in depth include: 　

Hilary and Jackie

The Matrix

Inception

Memento

Moon

I, Robot

Minority Report

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Gone Baby Gone

Antz

Equilibrium

The Seventh Seal

God on Trial

Leaving Las Vegas

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415839327
• ISBN13: 9780415839327
• Release Date: July 2014
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 391 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to philosophy through film

In the last decade or so a number of philosophers have become interested in film, both as a way of illustrating difficult concepts in philosophy and as a medium with a rich potential for the development of philosophical thought. Mary Litch's "Philosophy through Film" was one of the first and remains one of the best and most useful textbooks for introducing students to philosophical concepts by way of film, and uses ideas drawn from philosophy to help analyze films that raise important questions about the nature of human identity, the character of knowledge, and ethical and existential questions about how we live. The format is especially helpful. Each chapter introduces a central philosophical theme and raises several of the issues that surround this theme, and then illustrates the theme with a brief account of two or three contemporary and easily accessible films that raise issues related to this theme. The final part of the chapter presumes that students will have gone on to view the film for the first time, or once again with the specific thematic issues of the chapter in mind. She then gives a detailed summary of each film to suggest how the film raises and resolves such issues and examines what is at stake in the way the film seems to resolve this issue. So, for example, a chapter on personal identity -- the question what makes a person who he or she is -- is complemented by analyses of the films Being John Malkovich and Memento. A chapter on epistemology -- the question how we know what we know and whether we can have knowledge at all -- is complemented by analyses of "Total Recall" and "The Matrix." Overall, it is a fine book that is well written and clear -- and while I may disagree with some of her emphases and wish she had discussed certain subjects more or less, the overall presentation is compelling and interesting. Something she doesn't do, but that other philosophers have begun to do in a number of books, is raise questions about the nature of film itself and whether and to what extent it is a medium uniquely suited for the expression or exploration of philosophical ideas. Even more, whether film itself might be said to be a medium for philosophy and not merely a useful illustration of philosophical concepts. I use this as a text in my course entitled Film and Philosophy to introduce students to the methods of philosophy, and especially to make relevant some of the seemingly abstract debates that take place within ethics, epistemology and metaphysics. I supplement this with discussions and readings in aesthetics to raise the question what is distinctive to film as a medium, and to raise questions that go beyond film as an illustration of philosophy and in the direction of the "philosophy of film." I'd love to see Mary Litch come out with a new edition of this excellent text, and expect to keep using it for some time. UPDATE: a new edition of Philosophy through Film has been published, including discussions of more film