Week 1 Introduction – on memory
Philosophical sources: St. Augustine, Descartes, Locke.
Film stimulus: Incident at Owl Creek and La Jetée, and recommended film for extended study: Momento.
Secondary readings:
Bernecker, S. (2010) Memory: a philosophical study Oxford: Oxford University Press
Margalit, A. (2002) The Ethics of Memory Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press
Rossington, M. & Whitehead, A. (2007) Theories of Memory: a reader Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Schama, S. (1996) Landscape and Memory London: Fontana
Week 2 Personal Identity
presentation – on recollecting oneself.
Philosophical sources: Descartes, Locke, Hume. (but also Durkheim)
Film stimulus: Blade Runner
Secondary readings:
Burkitt, I. (1999) Bodies of Thought: embodiment, identity and modernity London: SAGE
Finnis, J. (2011) Intention and Identity Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Olson, E. T. (2007) What Are We? A study in personal ontology Oxford: Oxford University Press
Strawson, G. (2011) The Evident Connexion: Hume on personal identity Oxford: Oxford University Press
Thiel, U. (2011) The Early Modern Subject: self-consciousness and personal identity from Descartes to Hume
Week 3 Free Will & Determinism
presentation – on being the person that you are
Philosophical sources: Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, (but also Gabriel Tarde)
Film stimulus: A Clockwork Orange
Secondary sources:
Augustine (1993) On Free Choice of the Will Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co.
Clarke, R. (2003) Libertarian Accounts of Free-Will Oxford: Oxford University Press
Cohen, J. (2010 Rousseau: a free community of equals Oxford: oxford University Press
Dennett, D. (1984) Elbow Room: the varieties of free-will worth wanting Oxford: Oxford University Press
Week 4 Ethics
presentation – on different kinds of can and can’t.
Philosophical sources: Aristotle, Hume, John Stuart Mill.
Film stimulus: A Man for all Seasons
Secondary sources:
Broadie, S. (1999) Ethics with Aristotle Oxford: Oxford University Press
Jordan, M. D. (2002) The Ethics of Sex Oxford: Blackwell
Kirkpatrick, F. (2001) The Ethics of Community Oxford: Blackwell
Parsons, S. F. (2001) The Ethics of Gender Oxford: Blackwell
MacIntyre, A. (2006) Ethics and Politics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Singer, P. (1993) Practical Ethics, 2nd. edtn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Stote, M. (2011) The Impossibility of Perfection: Aristotle, feminism, and the complexities of ethics Oxford: Oxford University Press
Week 5 The Problem of Evil
presentation – accidental deaths and births.
Philosophical sources: Augustine, Leibniz, Spinoza, Nietzsche.
Film stimulus: The Seventh Seal
Secondary sources:
Bernstein, R. (2002) Radical Evil: a philosophical investigation Oxford: Polity Press
Card, C. (2002) The Atrocity Paradigm: a theory of evil Oxford: Oxford University Press
Davies, B. (2011) Thomas Aquinas on God and Evil Oxford: Oxford University Press
McGinn, C. (1999) Ethics, Evil, and Fiction Oxford: Oxford University Press
Rorty, A. (2001) The Many Faces of Evil: historical perspectives New York: Routledge
Swinburne, R. (1998) Providence and the Problem of Evil Oxford: Clarendon Press
Tallon, P. (2012) The Poetics of Evil: towards an aesthetic theodicy Oxford: Oxford University Press
Week 6 Relativism
presentation – the significance of the Joker
Philosophical sources: Aristotle, Plato – Theaetetus and Protagoras, Nietzsche.
Film stimulus: Rashomon
Secondary sources:
Harman, G. (1996) Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity Oxford: Blackwell
Kolbel, M. & Garcia-Capentiro, M. (2008) Relative Truth Oxford: Oxford University Press
Lee, M. (2005) Epistemology after Protagoras: responses to relativism in Plato, Aristotle, and Democritus Oxford: Clarendon
Nagel, T. (2007 The Last Word Oxford: Oxford University Press
O’Grady, P. (2001) Relativism Teddington: Acumen
Rorty, R. (1991) Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Week 7 Scepticism
presentation – all’s for the best in the best of all possible worlds.
Philosophical sources: Sextus Empiricus, Montaigne, Descartes, Hume.
Film stimulus: The Matrix
Secondary sources:
Barnes, J. & Annas, J. (2000) Sextus Empiricus: outlines of scepticism Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Frances, B. (2005) Scepticism Comes Alive Oxford: Clarendon
Neale, S. (2001) Facing Facts Oxford: Clarendon
Norton, D. (1993) The Cambridge Companion to Hume Oxford: Oxford University Press
Parker, F. (2003) Scepticism and Literature: an essay on Pope, Hume, Sterne, and Johnson Oxford: Oxford University Press
Pritchard, D. (2005) Epistemic Luck Oxford: Clarendon
Russell, B. (2004) Sceptical Essays London: Routledge
Week 8 Artificial Intelligence
presentation – the ghost in the machine
Philosophical sources: two or three from a large list of potential contributors.
Film stimulus GOG and Forbidden Planet, and then A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Secondary sources:
Boden, M. (1996) The Philosophy of Artificial Life Oxford: Oxford University Press
Dyson, G. (1998) Darwin among the Machines London: Allen Lane
Geraci, R. (2010) Apocalyptic AI: visions of Heaven in robots, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kurzweil, R. (1999) The Age of Spiritual Machines: how we live, work, and think in the new age of intelligent machines London: Phoenix
Moravec, H. (1988) Mind Children: the future of robot and human intelligence Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press
Penrose, R. (1989) The Emperor’s new Mind: concerning computers, minds, and the laws of physics Oxford: Oxford University Press
Week 9 Film as Philosophy 1 The Mindscreen
Philosophical sources: Descartes, Berkeley, Merleau Ponti.
Likely film stimulus: selections from Godard and Bergman.
Week 10 Film as Philosophy 2 The Alien Quartet
presentation – the violent self.
Philosophical sources: Benjamin, Sorrel, de Sade, Bataille.
Likely film stimulus: Alien and/or Alien Resurrection
Week 11 Film as Philosophy 3 Ingmar Bergman’s intentionality
presentation – the dreamer as auteur.
Philosophical sources: Cavell, Rorty.
Likely film stimulus: Wild Strawberries.
Week 12 Film as Philosophy 4 The Aesthetics of Sensation
Philosophical sources: Burke, Kant, Schelling.
Likely film stimulus: 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Overview supporting the approach used in the first eight weeks:
Litch, M. (2002) Philosophy Through Film London: Routledge.
Reference overviews for film as philosophy:
Kawin, B. (1978) Mindscreen: Bergman, Godard, and first-person film New Princeton, Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Kennedy, B. (2000) Deleuze and Cinema: the aesthetics of sensation Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Livingstone, P. (2009) Cinema, Philosophy, Bergman: on film as philosophy Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mulhall, S. (2002) On Film London: Routledge.
Read, R. & Goodenough, J. (2005) Film as Philosophy Basingstoke: Palgrave.