Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction Films

The Philosopher At The End Of The Universe

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

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'

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

Mark Rowlands is Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire. After a Bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Mark switched to Philosophy and went up to Oxford in 1986 to study for a D.Phil. A succession of publications and academic posts followed in the US, Ireland and Exeter, where Mark also used whatever spare time he could find to surf. His ambition remains to kill himself doing Philosophy, but hopefully not in the near future. He has written a number of other successful books, including Everything I Know I Learned From TV for Ebury. He has also appeared on television and radio.

'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!

Mark Rowlands

Its rigour and lucidity, the persuasive, easy way that philosophical dilemmas are attached to everyday life, Everything I Know I Learned From TV stands far above most previous efforts to popularise philosophy

The author's delivery may be jokey, but his philosophy is the real thing

Philosophy For the Unrepentant Couch Potato

Everything I Know I Learned From TV uses characters we all know and love and their TV worlds to explain the great questions of philosophy. The only qualifications you need to join in are ownership of a sofa, a remote control, a sense of humour and an enquiring mind. The philosophy discussed is very much 'life' philosophy, answering the questions we all want to know: How do you define what is a good life to lead? The Simpsons disagree over the right way to live with Nietzsche and Diogenes on hand to take sides. What is real happiness? Aristotle fights Descartes for the heart and mind of Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw. Can a good person do a bad thing? Kant and Socrates pay a call on Tony Soprano and his latter-day Mob to talk moral philosophy. Where does love end and friendship begin? Rachel and Ross ask Plato about the philosophy of emotions and wonder if they're just good friends. Is the pursuit of self-knowledge a good thing? Socrates helps Niles and Frasier Crane and their dad deal with the relative merit of the examined and the unexamined life. And much more.

Mark Rowlands

Praise for Everything I Know I Learned From TV

Its rigour and lucidity, the persuasive, easy way that philosophical dilemmas are attached to everyday life, Everything I Know I Learned From TV stands far above most previous efforts to popularise philosophy

The author's delivery may be jokey, but his philosophy is the real thing

Books by Mark Rowlands

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