[lit-ideas] Re: Decisions, decisions

  • From: Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Paul)
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: 23 Oct 2004 19:05:04 PDT

Btw, whatever  happened to The Truman Show as a philo-teaching film?  Or
Shakespeare in Love?
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I haven't seen Shakespeare in Love and I keep confusing The Truman Show with
Pleasantville, but it does seem to me that to be of any philosophical interest a
film has to pose a question to which the film itself provides no answer. 

The Matrix shows the banks of human material that fuel the Matrix and it also
says that the Matrix is responsible for the sustained ilusions of life
experienced by 'ordinary people.' In other words, at that level, it's of no more
real philosophical interest than the question of whether one can discover if the
woman is actually sawn in half, for there's an answer to the question 'is it
real?' in the work.

So, if the question is, How can one tell? Descartes' challenge is of much more
philosophical interest because there is no 'empirical' fact of the matter.

The Matrix may be of philosophical interest with respect to why one would choose
the red pill or the blue pill. Neo chooses one, Cypher the other. But Cypher's
reasons for his choice aren't especially interesting, and Neo's are never
clearly articulated, although it might be a challenge to imagine what they might
be.

Robert Paul
The Reed Institute



 
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