'Who would you rather have as a philosophy teacher, Socrates or Schwarzenegger?'
The Philosopher at the End of the Universe demonstrates how anyone can grasp the basic concepts of philosophy while still holding a bucket of popcorn. [...] A search for knowledge about ourselves and the world around us with a star-studded cast that includes: Tom Cruise, Plato, Harrison Ford, Immanuel Kant, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigourney Weaver, Rene Descartes and Keanu Reeves.'
Oftewel: basisideeën uit de filosofie uitgelegd aan de hand van science-fiction films als Alien, The Matrix, Terminator en Blade Runner...
Een voorbeeld:
'There are some who think that Austria is good for little except skiing. However, Austria has, in fact, produced more than its fair share of great, or at least very good, twentieth-century philosophers: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Popper, Sigmund Freud, Otto Weininger, Karl Kraus, Frederick Waismann, to name but a few. But undoubtedly the brightest star in this Austrian firmament is the philosophical giant of Hollywood, the 'Austrian Oak': Arnold Schwarzenegger. I kid you not! I could have used just about every film he ever made in this book (except, of course, for
Kindergarten Cop - a film that sadly marked the beginning of the Great Man's philosophical decline).
In the next chapter, by way of that virtuoso piece of cinematic history, Paul Verhoeven's (1990)
Total Recall, we'll have an opportunity to view some more of his incisive and decisive contributions to philosophy in general, and to the concept of personal identity in particular. But, in addition to that work, we also find, for example,
Predator, clearly a sophisticated defence of vegetarianism, and a scathing attack on the hunting lobby in all its forms. The
Last Action Hero explores the theme of possible worlds, where Arnie, in a sophisticated examination of the ontological status of fictional characters, defends, in effect, a form of what's known as
modal realism - the view that possible worlds exist in very much a sense as the actual world - a view associated with the late, great Princeton philosopher, David Lewis.
Twins is an exploration of the relative importance of the role played by nature and nurture in the constitution of human beings. And don't get me started on the forceful critique of the moral theory known as
utilitarianism to be found in
Running Man. There is a real danger, then, given the depth and breadth of his philosophical contribution, of this book turning into an Arniefest. To avoid this, I'll restrict myself to using the Great Man for only two themes. One of these is the mind-body problem, and Arnie's most significant contribution to this is to be found in his unparalleled
Terminator films.'
Bestellen bij Bol, nu!Enjoy!
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