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November 15, 2004

Epistemology/Film

Could anyone suggest a good movie(s) that introduces the fundamental concepts in (classic) Epistemology? One day I hope to introduce every philosophical concept through film.

Posted by kkukla at November 15, 2004 12:25 AM

Comments

I think Twelve Angry Men could work great, but I've never used it.

There's a whole genre of movies about Is This Really Happening?
The Matrix #1/Dark City/eXistenZ/The 13th Floor/end of Brazil

Posted by: j at November 15, 2004 8:16 AM

Memento deals with "What is knowledge?"/"What does it mean to know something?" along with interesting memory-related ideas.

Posted by: Macht at November 15, 2004 1:09 PM

Posted by: Irem at November 16, 2004 1:17 PM

Epistemology of self-knowledge might be discussed fruitfully through at least some of the films based on the novels and stories of Philip K. Dick. Of course, the primary texts are best, since virtually no film has done justice to Dick's works. Of course, there's "Bladerunner", but "Impostor" (an overlooked film that came out at roughly the same time as "Fellowship of the Ring", based on a Dick short story of the same name) is also good for the same purposes: epistemology of personal identity.

Posted by: Manuel Cabrera Jr. at November 23, 2004 9:47 PM

Hi,

I'm using Twelve Angry Men as the first film in a class called "Knowledge, Skepticism, and Film," to get out fundamental issues and use as a talking point throughout the course. Last time I taught the course I showed it *last* because I thought it would be an "aha" moment for students to see so many of the theories & topics they'd studied show up in one play/film, but I decided it would work better to do it this way.

Posted by: Ashley McDowell at January 18, 2006 2:20 PM