Blade Runner

<p>Ridley Scott’s <i>Blade Runner</i> is widely regarded as a masterpiece of modern cinema and is regularly ranked as one of the great films of all time. Set in a dystopian future where the line between human beings and ‘replicants’ is blurred the film raises a host of philosophical questions about what it is to be human the possibility of moral agency and freedom in ‘created’ life forms and the capacity of cinema to make a genuine contribution to our engagement with these kinds of questions.</p><p>This volume of specially commissioned chapters systematically explores and addresses these issues from a philosophical point of view. Beginning with a helpful introduction the seven chapters examine the following questions:</p><ul> <ul> </ul> <li>How is the theme of death explored in <i>Blade Runner</i> and with what implications for our understanding of the human condition?</li> <li>What can we learn about the relationship between emotion and reason from the depiction of the ‘replicants’ in <i>Blade Runner</i>?</li> <li>How are memory empathy and moral agency related in <i>Blade Runner</i>?</li> <li>How does the style and ‘mood’ of <i>Blade Runner</i> bear upon its thematic and philosophical significance?</li> <li>Is <i>Blade Runner</i> a meditation on the nature of film itself?</li> <ul> </ul> </ul><p>Including a brief biography of the director and a detailed list of references to other writings on the film <i>Blade Runner</i> is essential reading for students – indeed anyone - interested in philosophy and film studies.</p><p>Contributors: Colin Allen Peter Atterton Amy Coplan David Davies Berys Gaut Stephen Mulhall C. D. C. Reeve.</p>