Part of the seven-title series Great Ideas in Philosophy, this 47-minute program addresses “the mind/body problem,” i.e., the relationship between the brain and the intellect or understanding—a connection that leads to fundamental questions regarding free will versus determinism. Rather like a dry illustrated lecture, with narration so sedate that it might act as a soporific (with brief explanatory comments from Ned Block of NYU and Colin McGinn and Brian McLaughlin of Rutgers), Philosophy of Mind traces the history of the topic from its origins in the writings of Ren( Descartes through the contributions of Gottfried von Leibnitz, George Berkeley, John Stuart Mill, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Thomas Nagel, and John Searle, to name but a few of the more notable thinkers mentioned here. The basic distinction lies between dualism and its subsets (all of which draw a clear distinction between mind and body) and monism (which reduces all mental phenomena to either mind or body), but while the program makes good use of graphs, charts, and examples, it also fails to make the subject truly engaging. Other titles in the series include Classical Greek Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy, Aesthetics, Metaphysics and Ethics. An optional purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)
Philosophy of Mind
(2004) 47 min. VHS or DVD: $149.95. Films Media Group. PPR. Color cover. ISBN: 0-7365-8970-8 (dvd). Volume 21, Issue 1
Philosophy of Mind
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.