Filmed Thought

An ambitious and successful exploration of film as philosophy--or rather, to quote the title of an important book by V. F. Perkins, of film as film, and thereby as a version of philosophy. The form reflects on itself, and in this way brings medium and content into a subtle and shifting relationship with each other and with the world. Philosophers have written very well on film before--the obvious instances are Gilles Deleuze and Stanley Cavell, the latter playing a large part in Pippin's book--but none has written with so long and so close an attention to individual films or with so intimate a sense of where and how the philosophy plays out in these works (and what kind of philosophy it is not). --Michael Wood, Princeton University, author of Alfred Hitchcock: The Man Who Knew Too Much and Film: A Very Short Introduction There are many riches in these chapters that will reward the careful reader. Taken together, the result is stimulating, engaging, and thought-provoking. Filmed Thought shows convincingly why philosophers should take cinema seriously, and how film theorists can engage in philosophy through cinema. A major contribution. --Robert Sinnerbrink, Macquarie University, author of Cinematic Ethics and New Philosophies of Film Filmed Thought is film philosophy at its finest. At a time when so much academic philosophy speaks only to specialized audiences, Pippin's book is a remarkable work of public scholarship, one that will surely become a classic. Just as viewers never tire of rewatching the films of Hitchcock, Malick, and Ray, readers will return again and again to Filmed Thought, finding something new, something captivating, something worth thinking about, each and every time. --Martin Woessner, City College of New York