Metaphysics, in summary, is “a division of philosophy that is concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being and that includes ontology, cosmology, and often epistemology.” Metaphysical questions are always being asked, whether intentional or not. Many books, films, and T.V shows have raised metaphysical questions. The film Pleasantville raises the metaphysical question of the existence of a possible world. A possible world is what the world as we know today could have been or might have been like. In this film, possible worlds could exist. Protagonist David and his sister Jennifer are sucked into a world where there is no violence, no sexuality, no corruption, etc. Everything in this world is pleasant. This is a possibility of
Neill, Alex. “Empathy and (Film) Fiction.” Philosophy of film and motion pictures : an anthology. Ed. Noel Carrol and Jinhee Choi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 247-259. Print.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 “shilling shocker”, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has been subjected to various interpretations over the years. While some have assessed the trope of duality in the light of racism, colonization and cultural ‘other’, others have drawn on psychological references of split personality or ‘dissociative identity disorder’(i.e. existence of more than one personality in one body). The popularity of the novella and the idea of binaries existing in one being, has given birth to the phrase ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ which associates itself to a person whose attitude is vastly different from situation to situation. The respectable Dr. Jekyll, in his
The most creative respond in my opinion came from a venerable 9 years old soul Eshal Ahmad, “Reality is what you want it to be, there isn’t a right answer. It varies from person to person.”
The 1999 film, The Matrix, shows many philosophical instances. Comparing this film to Plato’s The Republic: The Allegory of the Cave, and Descartes’ First Meditation on Philosophy allows one to gain a deeper understanding of the work. Reality is a concept that may be vague to many people due to their given circumstances. The environment and the mind a person is in allows for different perceptions of reality. The power of reality falls in the eyes of the beholder. As shown in The Matrix, Neo was not the One until he believed he was, which can percept into everyday life; how someone thinks can affect how someone is.
Douglas Light said that our imagination is better than any answer to a question. Light distinguished between two genres: fantasy from fiction. He described how fantasy stimulates one’s imagination, which is more appealing, but fiction can just be a relatable story. In the same way, Books and movies are very different entities. In the short parable Doubt, the readers are lured in to the possibility of a scandalous relationship between a pastor and an alter boy. The readers’ curiosity is ignited because they are not given all the details. Therefore, their mind wanders further than the plot to create a story and characters that acted on one’s imagination; thus, the story became entertaining- flooded by the questions of what? Who? How? By which the reader can only answer. At this point, the readers create their own movie in a way. They will determine important aspects: how the character speaks, looks like, and reacts. Whereas, in the movie, the reader has no choice but to follow the plot laid out in front of them. No longer can they picture the characters in their own way or come up with their different portrayals. The fate of the story, while still unpredictable, was highly influenced by the way the characters looked, spoke, and presented themselves on screen. The movie leaves little to viewers' imaginations.In order to be entertained by literature or art, the viewer needs to feel that they can use their imagination and not be confined to a plot that reveals all.
Phenomenal consciousness: Also called P- consciousness. It cannot be defined; we can only point towards it. It is basically related to whatever is experienced by us. For example- our experience of redness(and other such qualia) come under P- consciousness. Feelings, sensations, thoughts, desires, emotions etc. also come under P- consciousness.
With such great minds and an awesome influence that seems boundless, how can there not be references to the works of Thomas Hobbes and Immanuel Kant. The Fundamental Principles in the Metaphysics of Morality is used by the minority dissenting opinion to reiterate the concepts of the intrinsic dignity of man. While the majority uses the literary work the Leviathan to support their own opinions. Transforming and uplifting the case of Gregg v. Georgia into an arena for a debate of Hobbian and Kant philosophies.
Jim Holt likes asking questions, rather big ones. In the book, 'Why does the world exist?', he takes on one of the biggest questions in his conversation with scientists and theologists. Jim Holt raises the central question Why is there something rather than nothing. He questions the origin of everything in this book. In the book, Jim Holt, himself wants to know how nothingness, a state in which nothing exists, gives rise to the universe in which all things exist. The book goes into detail about the mystery of existence. Not just our existence, but everyones and everything. To come up with an answer to this perplexing question, Holt interviews various people. Holt travels across the world, to England, France and United States to find answers to the mystery of existence. He interviews religious people as well as atheists, physicists and philosophers and Platonist. Holt visits each of these people posing the question, Why does the world exist? And Why is there something rather than nothing? He writes about their responses to this question. The answers the various theologists and philosophers give us a vivid glimpse of the speaker, but do not solve the riddle of the existence.
John Polkinghorne’s The Universe as Creation does its best to not convince the reader of Intelligent Design, but rather to dissuade the reader from the notion that although the is intelligently designed, but in this way, it has made science possible.
In this paper I will present two differing views on the topic of the design argument. In particular, I will explain William Paley's view supporting the design argument and Bertrand Russell's view against the design argument. After a presentation of the differing views, I will then evaluate the arguments to show that William Paley has a stronger argument.
...the predominant theme of disorientation and lack of understanding throughout the film. The audience is never clear of if the scene happening is authentic or if there is a false reality.
Philosophy can be found everywhere. Like math, it is used to solve problems, or at least used to begin to understand those problems. Most individuals expect to heighten their philosophical knowledge through readings or by reading a professors notes. One may even consult their own mind to help them grasp a concept of a philosophy. Attainting philosophical guidance by the sources above is common yet it is also quite common to see philosophical themes in movies and novels. A movie with a philosophical message is “Fight Club”. The movie “Fight Club” examines an idealistic question known as “What is Real?” though the main character. The movie examines three idealistic statements: One cannot trust appearances to determine what is real, one sees and feels only what their subconscious mind allows them to see and feel, and finally, ones mind determines what is personally real.
In the subject of Philosophy there seems to be a common goal to take ordinary entities within the world, and essentially take a deeper look at all aspects of whatever may be in question. With that said, one theory in particular within this realm follows those same guidelines of dissection, as the simple idea of individualism is broken down and evaluated to the core. The term existentialist is key when referring to the value of being an individual, as this philosophical ideal revolves around the person, and how they go about life itself. According to Dr. Madeline Clemence, “Existence needs essence to support it, and nonexistent essences are unthinkable, hence absurd.” This passage highlights the principles of existentialism, bringing up the question, “without the concept of meaning within life, why live at all?” Keeping this in mind, the film known as, “The Big Lebowski,” take the idea discussed, and turn this aspect of philosophy into entertainment. The intertwinement between the term existentialism, and The Big Lebowski, is seen throughout the entirety of the movie, and its portrayal is key
These studies have provided some insight into the neurobiological mechanisms that are responsible for transience both on a short time scale and over a much longer time period. However, they only provide insight into how the phenomenon of transience comes to be without tackling the question of what is the purpose of transience with respect the brain functionality. This question can be answered by using intuition, an understanding of the mechanisms behind transience as outlined above, as well as knowledge of data storage in computing. While it may seem like the simple answer would be that transience exists in order to allow the brain to clear out storage space for other conscious memories much like deleting files to make room for more files on
What is metaphysics? In the Western tradition, metaphysics concerns the nature and description of an Ultimate Reality that stands behind the world of appearances. One dominant strand holds that we can somehow come to know a world that exists undetected by our sense perceptions and unexplained by the natural operation of causes and effects. Unfortunately, our powers of sensation and perception reveal to us only a partial survey of the contingent universe unfolding around us and within us. We are part of that unfolding process, no doubt, but we have profound limitations in what we can do and what we can know. We are radically limited in our contact with the universe, and it is hard to see how, in our embodied state, we can overcome these limitations.