Ethics Goes to the Movies

In this book, Christopher Falzon uses movies to provide a rich survey of moral positions as they have emerged through history.

Acknowledgements Introduction - Rear Window Ethics What is ethics? Film as experimental Exploring ethics through film Chapter 1. Excess and obsession - Ancient ethics Why be moral Plato's moral theory Aristotle and virtue ethics Stoicism Epicureanism Feature films: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Under the Skin Chapter 2. Sin and self-denial: Religious ethics Divine command Augustine Aquinas and natural law The problem of evil Feature films: Crimes and Misdemeanors, and The Addiction Chapter 3. Pleasure, happiness and rights: Enlightenment ethics Hobbes and the social contract Enlightenment and happiness Utilitarianism Rights The libertine and scientific morality Feature films: Dirty Harry, and The Dark Knight Chapter 4. Personhood and autonomy: Kantian ethics Duty and desire Persons Autonomy Marx Habermas and discourse ethics Feature films: High Noon, and No Country for Old Men Chapter 5. Slaves, supermen and authentic selves: Existentialist ethics Nietzsche Kierkegaard Twentieth-century existentialism: Sartre et al. The social situation: de Beauvoir Feature films: Rope, and Fight Club Chapter 6. Encounters with aliens: Ethics and the other The critique of 'traditional' ethics The ethics of care Levinas and the ethics of the other Foucault, ethics and power Experiments in living Feature films: Casablanca, and Force Majeure Filmography Glossary Bibliography Index