Ethics goes to the movies: an introduction to moral philosophy
- New York Routledge 2019
- vii, 308 p.: ill. Includes bibliography and index
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements Introduction – Rear Window Ethics What is ethics? Film as experimental Exploring ethics through film
Chapter 1. Excess and obsession – Ancient ethics Why be moral Plato’s moral theory Aristotle and virtue ethics Stoicism Epicureanism Feature films: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Under the Skin
Chapter 2. Sin and self-denial: Religious ethics Divine command Augustine Aquinas and natural law The problem of evil Feature films: Crimes and Misdemeanors, and The Addiction
Chapter 3. Pleasure, happiness and rights: Enlightenment ethics Hobbes and the social contract Enlightenment and happiness Utilitarianism Rights The libertine and scientific morality Feature films: Dirty Harry, and The Dark Knight
Chapter 4. Personhood and autonomy: Kantian ethics Duty and desire Persons Autonomy Marx Habermas and discourse ethics Feature films: High Noon, and No Country for Old Men
Chapter 5. Slaves, supermen and authentic selves: Existentialist ethics Nietzsche Kierkegaard Twentieth-century existentialism: Sartre et al. The social situation: de Beauvoir Feature films: Rope, and Fight Club
Chapter 6. Encounters with aliens: Ethics and the other The critique of ‘traditional’ ethics The ethics of care Levinas and the ethics of the other Foucault, ethics and power Experiments in living Feature films: Casablanca, and Force Majeure Filmography Glossary Bibliography Index
Movies hold a mirror up to us, portraying the complexities of human reality through their characters and stories. And they vividly illustrate moral theories that address questions about how we are to live and what sort of people we ought to be. In this book, Christopher Falzon uses movies to provide a rich survey of moral positions as they have emerged through history. These include the ethics of the ancient world, medieval ethics, Enlightenment and Kantian ethics, existentialist ethics and the ethics of the other. Each theory is explained in detail, using a number of examples from the book’s wide selection of movies. The discussion draws on a range of recent and not-so-recent films, from Hollywood blockbusters to art-house cinema.