Moral Theory at the Movies

Book excerpt: Moral Theory at the Movies provides students with a wonderfully approachable introduction to ethics. The book incorporates film summaries and study questions to draw students into ethical theory and then pairs them with classical philosophical texts. The students see how moral theories, dilemmas, and questions are represented in the given films and learn to apply these theories to the world they live in. There are 36 films and a dozen readings including: Thank you for Smoking, Plato's Gorgias, John Start Mill's Utilitarianism, Hotel Rwanda, Plato's Republic, and Horton Hears a Who. Topics cover a wide variety of ethical theories including, ethical subjectivism, moral relativism, ethical theory, and virtue ethics. Moral Theory at the Movies will appeal to students and help them think about how philosophy is relevant today.