TTC Video – Sci-Phi – Science Fiction as Philosophy

In Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy David Kyle Johnson of King’s College takes you on a 24-lecture exploration of the final frontiers of philosophy across several decades of science fiction in film and television. From big-budget blockbusters to television series featuring aliens in rubber masks, Professor Johnson finds food for philosophical thought in a wide range of stories. By looking at serious questions through astonishing tales and astounding technologies, you will see how science fiction allows us to consider immense, vital—and sometimes controversial—ideas with a rare combination of engagement and critical distance.

Lectures:

1. Inception and the Interpretation of Art

2. The Matrix and the Value of Knowledge

3. The Matrix Sequels and Human Free Will

4. The Adjustment Bureau, the Force, and Fate

5. Contact Science versus Religion

6. Arrival Aliens and Radical Translation

7. Interstellar Is Time Travel Possible

8. Doctor Who and Time Travel Paradoxes

9. Star Trek TNG and Alternate Worlds

10. Dark City, Dollhouse, and Personal Identity

11. Westworld and A.I. Artificial Intelligence

12. Transcendence and the Dangers of AI

13. The Thirteenth Floor Are We Simulated

14. The Orville, Orwell, and the “Black Mirror”

15. Star Wars Good versus Evil

16. Firefly, Blakes 7, and Political Rebellion

17. Starship Troopers, Doctor Who, and Just War

18. The Prime Directive and Postcolonialism

19. Capitalism in Metropolis, Elysium, and Panem

20. Snowpiercer and Climate Change

21. Soylent Green Overpopulation and Euthanasia

22. Gattaca and the Ethics of Reproduction

23. The Handmaids Tale Feminism and Religion

24. Kubricks 2001 and Nietzsches Ubermensch