Get It Now The Philosopher At The End Of The Universe: Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction Films Conceived By Mark Rowlands Available Through Digital Edition

good a book on philosophy as I've ever read, Clear, concise, easy to read, And that's no mean feat when it come to subject matter such as identity, morality, the mindbody problem and good and evil, I don't agree with everything he says or some of his conclusions but at least I could understand them, Try saying that after reading Kant, Descartes, and others,
Definitely one I can recommend, Interesting read if you are a fan of scifi and deeper philosophical thought, Many of the movies we love and enjoy have deeper meaning when we stop to ponder, May more movies in the future test our minds! Philosopher Rowlands, who likes to veg in front of a movie with a cold beer, also likes to write about the philosophical themes of recent films.
I think you could always pick other better films on this sciphi theme, besides Frankenstein, Hollow Man, the Sixth Day and all that, but that's just taste and Rowlands tends toward the popular and commercial, including a bizarre fanatic fandom for Arnie, even attributing to him the "philosophy" that his films illustrate.
So you won't find Solaris here, or Alphaville, etc, etc. Nevertheless he manages to cover some philosophical territory in an amusing style, This is one of those books thats designed to make tedious material palatable, Rowlands achieves this by conveying the concepts of erudite philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, Sartre, Laplace, Kant, Heraclitus, Wittgenstein, Hume, and Heidegger through the lens of popular speculative fiction movies almost all Scifi.


The book uses thirteen films as case studies to consider ten critical philosophical concepts over ten chapters, Virtually all scifi fans are likely to have seen mostif not allof these films, They include: Frankenstein, The Matrix, the first two Terminator films, Total Recall, The Sixth Day, Minority Report, Hollow Man, Independence Day, Aliens, Star Wars, Blade Runner, and The Lord of the Rings.
I am not a film fanatic though I do like Scifi and Id seen all but two of these movies i, e. Hollow Man and The Lord of the Rings, I can say that the book is understandable without having seen the movies, but its much more enjoyable when you have seen them, Although, as far as the two movies that Id missed went, Hollow Man was easy because its a relatively straightforward invisible man story, andthereforethe link to that chapters question “Why Be Moral” was simple.
However, for The Lord of The Rings book I had to rely more on the synopsis the author provides to follow the chain of thought.


The philosophical issues that are addressed include: the meaning of life, what can we really know if anything, what am I or you or any other individual, what makes me you, etc.
different from everyone else, is there free will, why behave morally, how broadly does morality apply in other words, is it applicable outside humanity, do good and evil exist and if so what differentiates them, what does it mean to be mortal, and whats wrong with moral relativism.
If youve seen the movies, and give it some thought, you can probably match the movies to the questions easily,

I enjoyed this book, First of all, I will admit that its easier to follow the concepts and for them to stick with one when one puts them in terms of movies one has seen in some cases, several times.
Second, the author has a good sense of humor, While Rowlands is a Professor of Philosophy, this book doesnt read in the humorless and dry tone of academic writing, On the contrary, its meant for a popular audience and it reads for a popular audience, It should be noted that the humor and the exclusive focus on movies versus literature or films set this book aside from a number of others that are superficially quite the same.
I have another book in storage back home called Science Fiction and Philosophy that is by an academic publisher, maintains the scholarly tone, goes into a bit more depth, but covers many of the same ideas e.
g. Braininavat, etc. using similar examples. I didnt finish the more scholarly book, but if youre looking for great depth but not reading ease you might pick it up for comparison,

Rowlands does overplay the “thesemoviesaresobadtheyregood” card, and when he does he sounds a tad professorial / pretentious, However, the book often reads like it was written by a colorful football coach rather than a Philosophy Professor, And, to be fair, in some cases its true that the films are delightfully bad, However, these are not Bmovies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes as one might think from the commentary,

If youre interested in philosophy, but cant get through two pages of Kant without falling asleep, Id recommend this book,
I was first introduced to this book in an high school Science Fiction English class, We had to read snippets of the book to supplement the movies and books we were reading, and it was interesting to some extent but I was more interested in reading the actual books and watching the movies than paying attention the supplemental readings from this book.
So to be honest the first time I as given this book to read I didn't really do it, and the readings I did do, I didn't really pay attention to.
But I never forgot about this book and vowed that I would read this book but on my own time and at my own pace, This time around I paid attention and learned quite a bit,

The Philosopher at the End of the Universe: Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction Films is quite interesting for someone who knows very little about philosophy but really likes science fiction film or as Mark Rowlands puts it Sciphi.


Rowlands has a witty sense of humor that makes the large chunks of philosophy much more digestible, But the true greatness of the book is using scifi films as a contextualizing backdrop for philosophical thought, Rowlands and this is part of his sense of humor places thinkers like Plato, Hume, Kant alongside cinematic philosophers like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Keanue Reeves, Roland Emmerich and Rutger Hauer.
It is definitely a new take and far easier way of reading about philosophy for the casually curious reader,

Granted the book doesn't always use the film backdrop as completely as you would think at times, which can cause the book to drag, Nevertheless, Rowlands' humor and knowledge of the subject matter shines through making this book one that should definitely be picked up and read, Even if you have to read it in bitesized pieces like I did to grasp all of the material, It also helps to read a chapter and then watch the movies that he discusses, because you will need a break in the reading to absorb everything.
But if you are like me, you will not be able to read this over a few sittings, Rowlands succeeds at explaining philosophy in an accesible and very amusing manner, He manages to explain complex philosophical subjects, questions and themes in a way that they can become relatable for people that have not studied philosophy, The use of movies is entertaining and helps imagine what philosophical questions he is adressing,

I do think, however, that not in every chapter the use of movies is equally adequate or fun, Oftentimes it seems more like he is explaining philosophy from his own epistemological and ethical viewpoint, for which he sometimes only briefly refers to movies, It would have been intellectually more honest if he gave some epistemological positions some more credit or attention, instead of the ones he happens to endorse,

However, he does convey his points rather convincingly and the book still gives the reader room to draw his or her own conclusions about the matters he discusses.


Points with which I could myself normatively identify were his views on animal suffering I'm glad to know Rowlands is vegetarian and epistemic duties and epistemic responsibility the duty to be lieve only true things and actively pursue truth by carefully weighing empirical evidence and stringent reasoning.
Regarding the latter he ends his book with an appeal and call to us, since beliefs lead to actions: "Try not to be stupid the world will be a better place for it.
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This is the second book I've read with a group of people in prison, A look at major philosopical issues and how they relate to box office scifi movies,
The Philosopher at the End of the Universe second edition: SciPhi demonstrates how anyone can grasp the basic concepts of philosophy while still holding a bucket of popcorn.
Mark Rowlands makes philosophy utterly relevant to our everyday lives and reveals its most potent messages using nothing more than a little humor and the plotlines of some of the most spectacular, expensive, highoctane films on the planet.


Learn about: The Nature of Reality from The Matrix, Good and Evil from Star Wars, Morality from Aliens, Personal identity from Total Recall, The MindBody dilemma from Terminator, Free Will from Minority Report, Death and the Meaning of Life from Blade Runner, and much more.
A search for knowledge about ourselves and the world around us with atudded cast that includes: Tom Cruise, Plato, Harrison Ford, Immanuel Kant, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigourney Weaver, Rene Descartes, and Keanu Reeves.


Rowlands anchors his discussions in easily understood everyday terms and relates them in a manner easy to identify with interspersed with a ready joke or two, he wonderfully explains why those SciFi movies we love so much are much deeper than they appear to be on the surface.
Mark Rowlands's entertaining and stimulating guide is perfect for anyone searching for knowledge of the world around us, If Keanu can understand Descartes surely everyone can, I would read a chapter, and then go rent the movie, It was totally fun, and I'd recommend it! Interesting premise, Mainly blockbuster movies are used to illustrate his point, But, to me, there is too much mumbo jumbo, Maybe I am not a philosophy student maybe I am just looking for a casual read maybe I am hoping to learn more about philosophy, But whatever it is, it is not from this book, I get more confused by the philosophy spouted by this author, And his attempts at humour sounded corny, Too much philosophy, not enough scifi, Really great book for anyone new to the area of philosophy and wonders 'What's this all about, anyways' Certainly can't sign off on all implicit opinions in this book, but the casual style and connections to popculture scifi or sciphi, as Rowlands calls it makes it a great introduction for anyone with even the slightest interest in the field.
As much as philosophy goes, there was not so much to learn at last for me except the new contexts in which the old theories were settled and the funny and entertaining ways in which the author spoke about that.


Per quanto riguarda la filosofia, non é che ci fossero tante cose da imparare, ma la cosa migliore del libro é sicuramente il modo di raccontare dell'autore ed i nuovi e divertenti contesti in cui inserisce le vecchie teorie.


I think I could easily put this into my top five favorite books ever, . . or at least slot it among those that had the biggest impact on my life, I picked it up out of curiosity from the "new" section of our local library years ago, It seemed like a good fit I love science fiction films, and I've long had a passing interest in philosophy, without actually being familiar with all the "greats.
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The book is written is an easy, conversational style by current professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami Mark Rowlands, previously of the University of Hertfordshire in the U.
K. Professor Rowlands walks the reader through a number of popular science fiction films and explains how their core messages relate to certain philosophers or philosophical ideas, including his own.
Examples include comparing Frankenstein's monster to the absurdity of life, dwelling in particular on French existentialist Albert Camus' take

on the Greek myth of Sisyphus, that poor fellow doomed to roll a rock up a hill for all eternity.
He uses the Terminator movies to explain the difference between dualism and materialism, and the mindbody problem, The Sixth Day and Total Recall provide a sounding board for the question of personal identity where do "I" reside In my brain, my memories, my soul, if there is such a thing Minority Report includes lively discussion about free will, determinism, and compatibilism The Hollow Man asks us "why be moral" Star Wars gets into the nature of good and evil Blade Runner, death and the meaning of life.


My favorite chapter of all focuses on Independence Day and Aliens, examining morality in a broader sense, and spending a significant amount of time on the thoughts of one of Rowlands favorite philosophers, Immanuel Kant, as well as utilitarians like Jeremy Bentham.
Taking a deeper look at the Aliens films, we are asked to put ourselves in the aliens shoes:

The aliens, of course, are portrayed as the baddies.
And to be fair, they do have a rather nasty habit of laying their eggs in human bodies, which proves most inconvenient when the hatched creature bursts out of the chest of its human host.
Very messy, and rather embarrassing if it should happen at, say, a dinner party, But are the aliens evil or simply misunderstood They are, after all, another species, So why should they have any moral obligations toward us After all, we do terrible things to other species, far worse than the grossest alien excesses just ask an intensively reared pig or chicken, or visit a slaughterhouse some time.
At least they just kill us, and while this is a somewhat painful death, at least it happens suddenly and relatively quickly, In the name of cheap food, we inflict lives of untold misery and equally gruesome deaths on hundreds of millions of animals every year,

He goes on to describe the life of a commercial chicken, to great effect, ending with:

Basically, it's no contest, Faced with a choice between a life like that and having an alien burst out of my chest, I would invest in some plastic tablecloths and go with the alien every time.
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Now, I was a borderline vegetarian before reading this chapter, . . I had given up red meat almost ten years past, I suddenly realized how absurd it was to try and draw some kind of artificial boundary between this living creature and that, From that moment on, I was a complete vegetarian, The health part of it is important of course, as I mention in my review of The China Study, but I can definitely say it is moral belief that keeps the flesh of another creature far from my lips.


The cool thing is, . . I wrote to Professor Rowlands a year or so ago to commend him on his book and thank him for it, I got a somewhat lengthy and very cordial reply, . . always a pleasant surprise in an automated world,

Now, I don't want to give the wrong impression this isn't a book of provegetarian propaganda, It is an intelligent conversation about philosophy which happens to revolve around that pop culture phenomenon known as the science fiction film, Intellectual snobs may be put off by the premise, but that's too bad, They are missing out on one heck of a smart and entertaining book, .