Stanley Cavell and Film: Scepticism and Self-Reliance at the Cinema

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Film is made for philosophy, asserted Stanley Cavell. In addition to his work on scepticism, morality, and the intentions and meanings of ordinary language, the American philosopher wrote fascinatingly about cinema, arguing that film can reveal new ground for thinking through old philosophical problems. In this book, Catherine Wheatley draws upon Cavells explicitly film-inspired works, key philosophical concepts and autobiographical writings, examining his analyses of films from Hollywoods Golden Age, the French New Wave, contemporary action cinema, silent film heroes Chaplin and Keaton, directors Cocteau and Hitchcock, and performers Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers. Revealing the ways in which Cavells thinking was shaped by the movies, Wheatly poses the question: what was it about film that taught the philosopher how best to live in the world

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Wheatley deftly synthesizes the wide ranging and interdisciplinary works of Cavell into a coherent unity. * Film Matters *

Author Bio

Catherine Wheatley is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Kings College London. She has written articles and essays on a wide range of contemporary cinema topics, and is the author of Michael Hanekes Cinema: The Ethic of the Image (2010), French Film In Britain: Sex, Art And Cinephilia with Lucy Mazdon (2013) and the BFI Film Classic on Hanekes Cach (BFI 2013).