Cinema, a good tool to bring philosophy closer to high school students
Aiming to offer a different philosophical experience from the one in high school for all students of upper secondary education, and giving their teachers more tools to teach Philosophy, the Faculty of Philosophy has prepared the cycle Filosofia i Cinema, to take place during April. This activity, which consists of a short opening conference, the screening of a film and a debate, includes three independent sessions which are focused on different philosophical periods, to take place at Sala Gran of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Barcelona, with capacity for a hundred attendants.
Aiming to offer a different philosophical experience from the one in high school for all students of upper secondary education, and giving their teachers more tools to teach Philosophy, the Faculty of Philosophy has prepared the cycle Filosofia i Cinema, to take place during April. This activity, which consists of a short opening conference, the screening of a film and a debate, includes three independent sessions which are focused on different philosophical periods, to take place at Sala Gran of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Barcelona, with capacity for a hundred attendants.
All sessions are organized by a lecturer from the Faculty: Montserrat Crespín will organize the session to be held on April 3, focused on ancient philosophy, which will screen Agora (2009) by Alejandro Amenábar. Then, Nemrod Carrasco will organize the activity to be held on April 19, offering the film Frankenstein, directed by James Whale and premiered in 1931, to bring students closer to modern philosophy. Last, on April 24, Sergi Oms will focus his session on contemporary philosophy with the film In the Mouth of Madness (1995) by John Carpenter.
These films have been chosen according to the historical period to be covered, so that attendants can understand how problems affecting humans have evolved or changed, and how and why new problems come up.
“The relation between cinema and philosophy has a long life”, says Vice-Dean Maria Isabel Méndez, organizer of the cycle. “The cinema is an excellent learning framework which allows working immediately on the analysis, thought and critical judgment. Also, although cinema is understood as art, it can be read in philosophical terms and relate it with art manifestos: literary works, paintings, etc. That is, establishing interconnections that favor the framework of reflexive work”, she says.