Der Leinwandphilosoph; Große Theorien von Sokrates bis Schwarzenegger ; Deutsch; ca. 310 S.

by Mark Rowlands

Was verbindet Neo, den Protagonisten aus Matrix, und René Descartes? Beide rätseln, ob die Wirklichkeit existiert.Die zentralen Thesen der Philosophie lassen sich aus ein paar Science-Fiction-Filmen herausfiltern, denn viele von ihnen enthalten komplexe Fragestellungen. Aliens und fremde Welten lassen uns unser eigenes Universum besser verstehen. Der Philosophieprofessor Mark Rowlands hat sich einige der populärsten Science-Fiction-Filme vorgenommen und zeigt, dass in ihnen die großen philosophischen Fragen unserer Zeit verhandelt Tod und Sinn des Lebens in Blade Runner, Identität in Total Recall, Gut und Böse in Star Wars und die Frage, ob es einen freien Willen gibt, in Minority Report. Descartes, Nietzsche, Kant, Sartre oder Kierkegaard - ihre Ideen lassen sich ohne weiteres an einigen Blockbustern erläutern, die tiefgründiger sind als ihr Ruf ahnen lässt und damit dem von Rowlands definierten Genre der Sci-Phi angehören. Mit Humor und Begeisterung verbindet Der Leinwandphilosoph Film und Philosophie. Rowlands verzichtet auf akademische Posen und zeigt, dass jeder von uns die großen Denker bequem im Kinosessel mit einer Tüte Popcorn in der Hand begreifen kann.

Paperback

About the author

Mark Rowlands was born in Newport, Wales and began his undergraduate degree at Manchester University in engineering before changing to philosophy. He took his doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University and has held various academic positions in philosophy in universities in Britain, Ireland and the US.

His best known work is the book The Philosopher and the Wolf about a decade of his life he spent living and travelling with a wolf. As The Guardian described it in its review, "it is perhaps best described as the autobiography of an idea, or rather a set of related ideas, about the relationship between human and non-human animals." Reviews were very positive, the Financial Times said it was "a remarkable portrait of the bond that can exist between a human being and a beast,". Mark Vernon writing in The Times Literary Supplement "found the lessons on consciousness, animals and knowledge as engaging as the main current of the memoir," and added that it "could become a philosophical cult classic", while John Gray in the Literary Review thought it "a powerfully subversive critique of the unexamined assumptions that shape the way most philosophers - along with most people - think about animals and themselves." However, Alexander Fiske-Harrison for Prospect warned that "if you combine misanthropy and lycophilia, the resulting hybrid, lycanthropy, is indeed interesting, but philosophically quite sterile" and that, although Rowlands "acknowledges at the beginning of the book that he cannot think like a wolf... for such a capable philosopher and readable author not to have made the attempt is indeed an opportunity missed."

As a professional philosopher, Rowlands is known as one of the principal architects of the view known as vehicle externalism or the extended mind, and also for his work on the moral status of animals.