why study film philosophically?

 

"The heart of so great a mystery can never be reached by following one road only."

Q. Aurelius Symmachus Relatio Tertia

"A sense of wonder started [hu]man[s] philosophizing, in ancient times as well as today. Their wondering is aroused, first, by trivial matters; but they continue on from there to wonder about less mundane matters such as the changes of the moon, sun, and starts, and the beginning of the universe. What is the result of this puzzlement? An awesome feeling of ignorance. [Humans]....begin to philosophize, therefore, to escape ignorance..."

Aristotle, Metaphysics

"The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty. The [hu]man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his [her] mind without the cooperation or consent of his deliberate reason...As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find that even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be...it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect."

Bertrand Russell from The Problems of Philosophy

"Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world."

Paulo Friere from Pedagogy of the Oppressed

"Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewal of your minds."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. citing Romans 12: 2

"Philosophy involves seeing the absolute oddity of what is familiar and trying to formulate really probing questions about it."

Iris Murdoch