Overview
Philosophical Video Review (5%):
Sample Video Assignment 1:
Sample Video Assignment 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuWbFZfa8sA
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your ability to apply your philosophical knowledge to works of fiction. You may choose one of the suggested works of fiction that appear beside bullet points on the syllabus (also posted to Brightspace) or you may find a piece of fiction on your own. Suitable works of fiction include short stories, novels, plays, movies, and episodes of television. If you are unsure about whether a particular work is suitable, email the instructor.
Your video should include (1) a summary of the plot of work of fiction that you’ve chosen, (2) a description of a specific element of the work that you see as relevant to philosophical ideas from the course, and (3) detailed references back to the course material, including specific readings/lecture slides.
- What I mean by specific: display detailed knowledge of the course material. For example, instead of referring in broad terms to “the free will debate” or “whether or not we are determined,” talk about specific views within the free will debate, such as compatibilism and scientific libertarianism.
- Imagine that you’re making this video for someone who hasn’t taken this course. Don’t presuppose too much background knowledge on the part of your audience.
- References: provide a reference list that includes both bibliographic information for your chosen work of fiction and to the relevant course materials, including references to specific page numbers in the readings/lecture slides. You don’t need to worry about the specific formatting of your references, as long as you’re providing enough information for the person grading your assignment to find what you’re referring to. For example:
References:
- Descartes’ evil demon thought experiment: Stich & Donaldson (2019). Philosophy: Asking Questions, Seeking Answers. Page 82.
- Global skeptical arguments: March 18 lecture, Slide 21.
- The Matrix (1999).
You may include your references list as a slide at the end of your video, or you may include it as part of your text submission beneath the link to your video.
Your video should be between two and five minutes of you speaking. You may also include video clips, but these will not count towards your total length (e.g. if you include a 1 min video clip, the total length of your video should be at least 3 mins).
To submit, post a link to your video (which may be posted on YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, or some other external site) on Brightspace: Table of Contents > Assignments > Philosophical Fiction Video Review.
Suggested works of fiction from the syllabus.
The Problem of Evil:
- The book of Job
- A Serious Man (2009)
- Voltaire, ‘Poem on the Lisbon Disaster’
The Problem of Free Will
- Ted Chiang, ‘What’s expected of us’
- Devs (Hulu)
- Minority Report (2002)
- Ted Chiang, “Story of your life”
The Mind-Body Problem:
- Raymond Smullyan, ‘An Unfortunate Dualist’
- Terry Bisson, ‘They’re made out of meat’
- David John Baker, ‘The Hunter Captain’
- Ex Machina (2014)
- Inside-Out (2015)
Global skepticism
- The Matrix (1999)
- Inception (2010)
- The Truman Show (1998)
Testimony/Echo chambers
- The Village (2004)
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
- Don’t look up (2021)
Personal identity & the self
- Severance, Season 1 (Apple TV)
- Memento (2000)
- Still Alice (2014)
- Daniel Dennett, “Where am I?”