I've started to use PowerPoint to lecture every 2-3 weeks, when I really need to focus on getting through complex or dense bits of the reading. In a week or so, I will be using PowerPoint to give a lecture on Kant's moral philosophy to my Intro students. When we discussed Utilitarianism, I found a very useful and funny clip from the show Louis CK which captured Singer's argument in Famine, Affluence, and Morality perfectly. I've been trying to find a clip from a TV show or movie that I could use to illustrate the Categorical Imperative or the Formula of Humanity, but I haven't been able to come up anything. I looked through the resource section of Teaching Philosophy 101 with no luck. Suggestions are most welcome.
Although I think it takes too much context to explain properly, I know someone who uses the scene of Scottie transforming Madeleine into the image of his dead(?) girlfriend from Vertigo as an example of treating someone as a mere means.
ReplyDeleteI have found that the movie "High Noon" is perfect for a study of Kant's notion of duty.
ReplyDeleteThe movie "Gone Baby Gone" deals with duty. The protagonist must decide if he does his duty as a cop or if he acts to bring about the most good.
ReplyDeleteOn universalizability, Curb Your Enthusiasm. In Season 1, Episode 5,
ReplyDeletehe has a series of fights with a receptionist about their
first-come-first-serve policy
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIVYdd60eNs). Also, you can look for
clips on line cutting. He has Kantian instincts about line cutting (sometimes).
Many Hollywood blockbusters could be taken to at least pay lip service to formula of humanity at some time or other.
ReplyDeleteFor example (warning: *spoilers*) in Minority Report a technology that is from the looks of it extremely accurate at facilitating prevention of almost all murders in America is in the end portrayed as morally unacceptable mostly because it involved enslaving a small number of people and treating them as mere means in the crime prevention machine.
President Obama's speech when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.
ReplyDeleteThere are some helpful suggestions here: http://www.philosophicalinvestigations.co.uk/index.php?view=article&catid=42%3Akant&id=364%3Afilm-clips-kant&option=com_content&Itemid=54&showall=1
ReplyDeleteAnother movie that pits serving the greater good against using people as a means is Extreme Measures.
Season 1, episode 5 of Curb your enthusiasm is great universalization and pursuing your own ends. Look for curb your enthusiasm and waiting room on youtube. Somebody put the two relevant bits together.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great feedback!
ReplyDeleteI ended up using this scene from Wall Street: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mr4mjeZ2ko
ReplyDelete