INTRODUCTION

Figure 0.1 Solveig Dommartin in Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987. Credit:

Road Movies/Argos Films/WDR. Courtesy of the Kobal Collection).

This book is an introduction to philosophy that turns to films in order to illustrate and discuss philosophical ideas and themes. Its primary aim is, by spending some time at the movies, to introduce some of the ideas and arguments

that have occupied philosophers over the years, to present philosophical ideas and

arguments concerning knowledge, the self, morality, and our social and political

existence. The book is founded on the belief that films represent a kind of col-

lective visual memory, a vast repository of images, through which many of these

ideas and arguments can be illustrated and discussed.