The history of philosophy and Stanley Kubrick

Consider how Kubrick,the legendary movie director behind 2001: A Space Odyssey, and other classic films, might have summarized the history of philosophy.

First scene: a stone monolith appears in ancient Ionia, and Thales begins to wonder whether there might be a single material substratum for all things. Thales throws a bone into the air, wondering if it will turn into water. The viewers of the movie seem to see the bone turn into a baguette, and ...

A long time thereafter, another monolith is discovered in France, and Descartes imagines that he could and should move beyond solipsism. He launches a project, called modern philosophy, which will explore the furthest regions of space and find a God who can guarantee that no evil demon is fooling us.

A computer named STRAUSS is then invented as an artificial lifeform that/who composes suitable music for inspiring moments like the appearance of monoliths. But STRAUSS is conflicted because ... thus spoke Nietzsche. And STRAUSS is not allowed to tell the philosophers where all this is headed.

John Searle eventually argues that a STRAUSS cannot exist, even for the purpose of translating Chinese.

Finally the project reaches a moon of Jupiter where it encounters Zizek, who is never on camera but who turns everyone into babies.

Now you know the history of philosophy.

Comments

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