A Companion to Public Philosophy

22Public Philosophy Through Film

S.B. SCHOONOVER

Our topic is public philosophy through film. Not philosophy of film, though that subfield has a storied history. Instead, we pursue the idea of philosophizing through film. And, within this orientation, we maintain that film can be a significant way of doing public philosophy. Film can perform at least some essential philosophical operations for broader audiences, as well – if not better – than traditional written and conversational forms. Part of this is owing to the image‐based nature of film and the growing public preference for image‐based communications.¹ It is a salient fact that there are no fewer than 45 popular YouTube channels enjoyed by millions of viewers whose content is primarily philosophical. Similarly, many of today’s philosophy superstars recognize the growing importance of visual arts, appearing as actors in blockbuster films, as subjects in documentaries about their life and work, and sometimes as intellectual performers lecturing against a backdrop of cinematic image and sound.²

My conviction that one can do public philosophy through film also comes in part from personal experience. As a kid who eventually became a first‐generation university student, I found philosophy in the cinema and on TV long before I found it in books and classrooms. As a philosophy teacher, I see each new term the power of film to help students enter the space of philosophical reasoning and to grasp ideas that might otherwise seem ...