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  • Published: 30 November 2011
  • ISBN: 9781448116676
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

The Philosopher At The End Of The Universe

Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction Films




New edition packed with good old-fashioned, high-octane, high body-count, alien ass-kicking, robot-wrecking philosophy!

'It's Schopenhauer and the will. It's Plato, it's Hume, Baudrillard and the concept of the Nietzschean superman!' Keanu Reeves on The Matrix

The Philosopher at the End of the Universe allows anyone to understand basic philosophical concepts from the comfort of their armchair, through the plots and characters of spectacular blockbusting science-fiction movies. Learn about: The Nature of Reality from The Matrix; Good and Evil from Star Wars; Morality from Aliens; Personal Identity from Total Recall; The Mind-Body Dilemma from Terminator; Free Will from Minority Report; Death and the Meaning of Life from Blade Runner; and much more. As someone once said, things must be said and knowledge known, and the cast list assembled to tell us does not disappoint: Tom Cruise, Plato, Harrison Ford, Immanuel Kant, Sigourney Weaver, Friedrich Nietzsche, Keanu Reeves and Rene Descartes. From characters in the biggest films (with lots of explosions and bad language) to Ludwig Wittgenstein (no explosions and too much language in general), hear all the arguments. I think, therefore... I'll be back!

  • Published: 30 November 2011
  • ISBN: 9781448116676
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

About the author

Mark Rowlands

Mark Rowlands is a beer-drinking, surfing bum who also happens to be the Director of the Centre for Philosophy at the University of Exeter. He has written eight books, including The Environmental Crisis and Animals Like Us and taught everywhere from Oxford to Alabama. His charismatic mix of high learning and pop attitude make his books a thumping good read.

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Praise for The Philosopher At The End Of The Universe

Excellent - not only is each chapter a model of philosophical exposition, conveying philosophical ideas with exemplary verve and clarity, the book also manages to connect the philosophy to the movies in a natural and convincing way- serves to inject a degree of passion into the bloodless halls of philosophy'

TLS

Hugely entertaining ... Rowlands knows his stuff and marries some of the tougher philosophical arguments to the more accessible conduit of popular entertainment- enjoyable and illuminating

Waterstone's Books Quarterly