"Examined Life: Philosophy Is in the Streets:" A Film by Astra Taylor

Astra Taylor directed "Examined Life: Philosophy Is in the Streets" for Canadian Public Television. It is one of the most interesting films that I have seen. I was not familiar with most of the philosophers who appear in the movie before I watched it. Of course I had heard of Slavoj Žižek. (I say, "of course," because I have written about him previously in this blog. In the film, "Žižek!" which I watched yesterday mentioned Judith Butler. Those who appear in this film are Cornel West, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Michael Hardt, Slavoj Žižek, Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor along with brief appearances by Astra Taylor. The film is less than 90 minutes in length, so we do not hear the speakers for long periods of time. During the brief periods in which they speak they actually communicate quite a bit. Avital Ronell comments that it was scandalous that she would only have ten minutes to speak in the film. She said that that was fine for the other philosophers appearing in the movie, but it was an outrage that she was not going to have more time to talk. Actually I think that she appears in the film for less than ten minutes. She talked about meaning in a very informative and entertaining way. During her talk with Astra Taylor they are walking in a park, and as they talk Astra Taylor is walking backwards. All of the conversations take place as the participants are walking or riding in a car, boat or wheelchair. Cornel West is the first to speak. He talked about truth as he was riding in a car being driven by Astra Taylor. He is a very stimulating speaker. He talked a lot about music, mostly blues and jazz. Throughout most of the film there is some music playing, but not when Cornel West was speaking. He was the one who talked about how central music was to his life. He was also the last to speak, and after it was not until after he got out of the car that we heard music in his segments. Peter Singer talked about ethics, and he presented his ideas in a very effective way.  He mentioned how some people say that they are not hurting anyone when they spend large amounts of money on luxury items. He said that they could help that sometimes the important issue is not what we spend money on but what we do not spend money. Do we spend money only on ourselves or do we also use money to help others? Kwame Anthony Appiah talked about cosmopolitanism, the importance of accepting different kinds of people. Marth Nussbaum spoke about justice and how important that there be justice for all people. Michael Hardt talked about revolution as he paddled a boat in a lake. Slavoj Žižek spoke about the ecology as he walked close to piles of refuse in what seemed to be a recycling facility. Sunaura Taylor, Astra Taylor's sister, is an artist and an activist for disability rights.She uses a wheelchair. If you want to know why you can look it up. She went on a walk with Judith Butler and they talked about interdependence. We all need some sort of help from someone. As a result of watching this film my list of books I want to read has gotten even longer. I know that I will not be able to read them all, but that is good news. I will not run out of books to read. I have not had that fear anyway.