Morality and the Movies: Reading Ethics Through Film

Description

Morality and the Movies presents the ideal introduction to philosophical ethics for film lovers. Dan Shaw uses a series of sixteen popular films, including Hotel Rwanda, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, Dead Man Walking and Full Metal Jacket, to illustrate all the major ethical theories and key contemporary moral issues. The book provides a brief summary and philosophical interpretation of each film, with reference throughout to primary philosophical sources. A unique pedagogical feature is that each chapter begins with a five-step summary of the theoretical position in question and a critical evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses through a specific film. Topics covered include: - divine authority - the social contract - moral relativism - virtue ethics - freedom and determinism - euthanasia - capital punishment - war and terrorism - abortion - business ethics Ideal for undergraduate students coming to philosophical ethics for the first time, this book utilizes popular film to introduce a central topic in the study of philosophy.

Dan Shaw is Professor of Philosophy and Film at Lock Haven University, USA. He is the managing editor of the journal Film and Philosophy, co-editor (with Steven Schneider) of Dark Thoughts: Philosophic Reflections on Horror Films (2003) and author of Film and Philosophy: Taking Movies Seriously (2008).

Shaw makes morality go down as easily as a bag of popcorn. No more will philosophy be dull. I can only wish that I had had a text like Morality and the Movies when I was a student just encountering ethics. This book is certain to engage students, as they discover they were already thinking about morality when they were watching movies. -- Thomas Wartenberg, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, USA Morality and the Movies vividly and even-handedly presents topics from ethical theory and applied ethics by means of well-chosen illustrations from classic and newer films. Its combination of clear presentation, compatibility with other introductory materials, and provocative examples should make it especially attractive for instructors as well as students. -- Dan Flory, Montana State University, USA Summing Up: Optional. Graduate students and faculty. -- D.W. Sullivan, Metropolitan State University of Denver * CHOICE * Morality and the Movies is intended as a study book in which movies serve as an illustration of certain theories, ideas, and themes in ethics... Every chapter provides an interesting and pedagogically careful introduction to the different theories and topics... The conciseness of the book and its pedagogical set-up make it very accessible. -- Neelke Doorn, Technical University of Delft * Ethical Perspectives *