answer some questions in connection with another film I would like you to watch.
Exam 2
Question 1.
I would like you to answer some questions in connection with another film I would like you to watch. The film is Mometo, which you can access through Netflix and numerous other internet download services (e.g., Movieberry at http://movieberry.com/memento/Links to an external site.). Besides being the work that launched Christopher Nolan’s directorial career (thus allowing him to go on to turn the Batman mythology into high cinematic art), it is also a wonderfully dramatic exploration of many of the personal identity related themes that we have dealt with in this course (no sci-fi splitting or fissioning cases, you may be happy to know). In 4-5 pages (double-spaced, one-inch margins on all sides, 12-pt. font) I would like you to do a number of things:
Describe the film. Provide a clear and coherent description of the events in the film. You need to do this before you can tackle any other part of this assignment, since the action of the story is both episodic and non-chronological. In this connection, cover a number of things:
Clearly articulate in detail the nature of Lenny’s condition.
Describe the two separate narratives in the film. One is in color and the other is in black and white. How are these narratives related and at what point do they converge?
Who are the major characters and what roles do they play in the action?
What is supposed to have taken place prior to the events that transpire in the film (before and immediately after Lenny’s injury)
Above all, enjoy the movie. It is a brainy and imaginative piece of film noir which not enough people have seen.
Question 2
Describe whether or not Lenny is has unitary personal selfhood according to the psychological continuity theory.
Referring to your analysis in 2(a) above, describe what, if anything, you take this to demonstrate regarding the acceptability of the psychological continuity theory. That is, do you take it to show that the theory is acceptable or unacceptable? Why?
Question 3
What does the psychological continuity theory imply about the moral culpability of Lenny. That is, is the character “Lenny” whom you see at the end of the film (i.e., the beginning of the chronological action) responsible for the killing you see at the beginning of the film (i.e., the end of the chronological action) according to the psychological continuity theory?
Referring to your analysis in 3(a) above, describe what, if anything, you take this to demonstrate regarding the acceptability of the psychological continuity theory. That is, do you take it to show that the theory is acceptable or unacceptable? Why?
- Exam 3
- Question 1
- In Chap. 13 of his book Death, Kagen describes three possible “interaction effects,” all resulting from the fact that death follows life.
- In about one paragraph, say what an “interaction effect” is.
Now devote about one double-spaced, 12-point font, one inch margins all around) page to each of these three interaction effects, describing it in detail and giving concrete examples from literature or real life of its occurrence and relating it to the material on “the absurd” we discussed in lecture set #17 concerning life shapes. Organize your answers in the following way.
a. Interaction effect 1. (on page 1)
b. Interaction effect 2. (on page 2)
c. Interaction effect 3. (on page 3)
Describe which (if any) of these “interaction effects” you find to be most compelling (to the issue of whether or not mortal lives are “absurd.” Think about this hard, and explain why? You should devote one to two pages to this task.
Question 2
In lecture sets 17 and 18 and the first part of discussion assignment #18, we discuss (or you are invited to discuss) life narratives (unifying life stories) and hedonistic life geometries (patterns of distribution of pain and pleasure over the course a personal existence). In the second part of discussion assignment #18, moreover, I ask you to consider possible relations between these two things.
Referring back to this stuff now, I’d like you to do the following: Read the very short novella by Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illych (which we’ve had occasion to mention in lecture and which I have included in the “Readings” folder accessible from the “Course Content” page). This is a very short, very engaging and very readable novella. It shouldn’t take you longer than a couple of hours to complete. Answer the following questions:
- In what way(s), if any, do you think that Ivan manages to render his life meaningful before his death?
- Perhaps in light of the novella, answer the question, “Do you really, truly believe that you are going to die.” Try to understand this as something other than a silly question, and write up a reflective response.
What form does this question take for Ivan? Why does he have problems wrapping his mind around it? How does he manage to ultimately respond to it (if he does)?
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