Films and novels can be excellent vehicles for applying ethical theories and thinking through complex moral and philosophical situations. For example, the existentialist philosophers all wrote creative works to elaborate their ideas and also point out existentialist themes in literature written by others. In contrast to the simple, bare-bones moral examples that are typically found in textbooks, films, and novels can present moral choices as we often experience them: multileveled, entangling, unstructured, and ambiguous.
Select a film or novel with which you are familiar that provides a rich philosophical context for analysis (there are many mentioned in the course text). Consider our six main problems of humanity that drove our semester’s study. Also consider reviewing the WiseCrack “Popular Culture Philosophy” YouTube playlist where pieces of popular culture like Rick and Morty & Get Out are analyzed and argued about. Essentially, I am asking you to complete a project that does just this.
1) You may write a traditional essay that uses modern academic writing conventions to address and explain your thesis or argument regarding the problems of humanity.
