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The short story that is the namesake of Etgar Keret’s book tells of a man, Nahum, who was dumped by a girlfriend who preferred to be alone, especially on top of a refrigerator, which brought back memories of her parents placing her there so that she would not bother them or get into mischief, since the refrigerator was too high to climb down from when she was little.
To be alone, on top of a refrigerator, was Nahum’s girlfriend’s perception of happiness. It was a part of her upbringing. In Book I of The Nicomachean Ethicss, Aristotle says “pleasure is an experience of the soul, and each individual finds pleasure in that of which he is said to be fond” (1099a - 7) and furthermore, “it is difficult if not impossible to do fine deeds without any resources” (1099a - 31).
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And here’s more media to check out, as suggested by Faintedtowers via Philphys!
In my experience with the films documented here, I’ve just noticed a few scenes and dialogues that remind me of things I’ve learned in philosophy class. These suggested films are most likely more inclined philosophically rather than just with bits and pieces. So check them out!
Posted July 31, 2011 at 6:32pm
Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) is an abnormal trip into the life of psychedelic drugs. Watching it all go to chaos and beyond, I wondered if this is what Descartes meant by doubting he had a body. Raoul (Johnny Depp) narrates the trip, in one scene, describing how they lose complete control of their senses once the drug takes hold.
(Source: scottlava)
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If you’re interested in more media… check out these suggestions by Philphys!
Edit: I just finished watching Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). If Allen wasn’t starring in it, it would have been incredibly sorrowful. His humor eases the tense situations, as in the scene where he finds out that the philosopher professor who is the subject of his documentary committed suicide. Allen’s character Clifford is most astounded by how the professor, discussing the benefits of living just one day chooses to “say no to life” and as scholarly as he was, only leaves behind a simple note saying “I’ve gone out the window” rather than something more eloquent.
This movie touches a lot on happiness, or eudaimonia. We see people who otherwise would be considered political acting vulgar, mostly in the form of infidelity, and as with the professor, unhappiness. Angelica Houston’s character Dolores is so similar to Alcibides from Plato’s Symposium because she offers all of herself, even giving up her dreams to enter into the business world, for her lover, the married ophthalmologist, Ben, who on the other hand is much like Phaedrus. He has difficulty deciphering what is lasting and what is superficial until Dolores smothers him and begs him to leave his wife and his job so they can go away to Boston like they used to and he can have that joyful demeanor that he didn’t have with his family and work again.
St. Martin’s University Philosophy 201 midterm, summer 2011, with Fr. Pratt & Ms. Suzan Porter: Response to a clip from Rob Roy (1995)
The Cock Cries at Midnight
“Love is a dung hill, Betty, and I am but a cock that climbs upon it to crow,” Tim Roth’s character Archibald Cunningham tells a woman who is pregnant with and cares nothing for his child (Love is a dung hill.). Sad as this scene is, the dialogue reveals the pitfalls of superficiality and impatience for true and lasting love that Plato’s dialogues delve upon and reiterate. In The Euthyphro, the search for the meaning of ‘holy’ and ‘unholy’ is unreached but various attempts are made to define those things in the same way that an attempt at defining love is made in the scene. In Symposium, attempts at the best speech “in praise of Love” (177d) are made similarly as Cunningham makes a statement about love. The dialogue in Phaedrus even distinguishes between a lover and a non-lover clearly as the characters in the scene are.
In taking his father to court over an incident involving the death of employees, Euthyphro encounters Socrates, who questions if he is certain that prosecuting his father the right, or holy, thing to do. (Allen15c) The consummation of Betty’s love for Archibald that led up to the tragedy of unrequited love bears the same dilemma. Euthyphro thinks he is upholding righteousness by prosecuting his father (Allen 5a) in the same way that Betty thought she and Archibald had mutual feelings. The lack of certainty resulting from lust is what keeps Betty lower on the “rising stairs” that Diotima uses analogously to describe the levels of love. (Reeve211c) Betty thought she was going upwards towards the ultimate love but Archibald keeps her down as in Lysias’ speech about the non-lover being better than the lover who is prone to mania (Reeve 232d), which Socrates says to be false because the madness is what helps a man to cope with difficulty (Reeve244e). Archibald turns his affair with Betty into a business transaction, just using her until he satiates his desire for pleasure, for he uses the word ‘cock,’ to be analogous with an agent of selfish love and synonymous with a cruel person. Roth’s line, “It won’t be the first time a bastard was born in Scotland,” strikes a similar tone, meaning a continuation of people of false love.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
20 Plays
Tim DeLaughter & The Polyphonic Spree
A New Beginning
If you do get to see the movie in it’s entirety, you’ll hear how fitting this song is for it: it’s gloomy but a tiny bit hopeful.
(Source: kateblyesux)
From a scene in Jared Drake’s Visioneers (2008), where people literally explode from anxiety or too much stress.
George, fearful of exploding, attends doctors appointments and counseling sessions and purchases products claiming to prevent dreams and anxiety. George is given this tip from his boss who says that doing this will prevent George from dreaming for the rest of his life. He doesn’t want to explode, but not having dreams and ignoring and not relieving pent up stress makes his life seem worthless.
Descartes famous line, “cogito er sum” seems most reflective of this. George thinks, but he isn’t really existing according to his nature as a human being to be drawn towards goodness. When George sees his coworkers exploding, he starts to doubt having purpose in life.
“Euth. Some other time, Socrates. Right now I must hurry somewhere and I am already late.
Soc. What are you doing, my friend! You leave me and cast me down from my high hope that I should learn from you what things are holy and what are not, and escape the indictment of Meletus by showing him that, due to Euthyphro, I am now wise in religious matters, that I no longer ignorantly indulge in loose speech and innovation, and most especially, that I shall live better the rest of my life.”
Plato, The Dialogues of Plato, Vol. 1. The Euthyphro. (15e-16a).
(via philphys)
“Conscious of their own ignorance, most people are impressed by anyone who pontificates and says something that is over their heads. Some, however, have held the view that over and above these particular goods there is another which is good in itself and the cause of whatever goodness there is in all these others.”
Aristotle, Book I (1095a-25)
(Source: philphys)
“If, however, it were repugnant to the goodness of Deity to have created me subject to constant deception, it would seem likewise to be contrary to his goodness to allow me to be occasionally deceived; and yet it is clear that this is permitted.”
Rene Descartes, Meditationed De Prima Philosophia, Meditation I - 9.
In Meditation VI, Descartes finds that these pains, or bad things, occur because they are necessary for taking care of ourselves. He uses the example of how nerves transmit messages to the brain that the foot is injured such that “it should lead the mind to feel pain in the foot rather than in any other part of the body” (Meditation VI -23). In a way, this is like coping and strengthening. Jaques Maritain in “St. Thomas and the Problem of Evil” goes further saying that these bad things, evil, exist because “the perfection of the universe as a whole composed of divine parts, required that every degree in the scale of being should be filled” (Maritain 17). To be whole involves bad things, but naturally, it is for the sake of empowerment and distinction, which are taken to be good.
(via papervocalist)
“Again, failure is possible in many ways, but success in only one. That is why the one is easy and the other difficult; it is easy to miss the target and difficult to hit it. Here, then, is another reason why excess and deficiency fall under evil and the mean state under good; ‘For men are bad in countless ways, but good in only one.’”
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, Book II (1106b 29-35)
(Source: reasonsilovelosingsleep, via theartofawesome)
