Rational Animals: Barbie’s Philosophical World
Sunday September 29 at 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm EDT
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Want to better appreciate Greta Gerwig’s highbrow screenwriting, or been wanting to read some philosophy but need a bubblegum pink excuse? Join philosopher Ryan Miller for eleven weeks as we read and discuss classic philosophical texts in conjunction with brief scenes from Barbie.
Want to better appreciate Greta Gerwig’s highbrow screenwriting, or been wanting to read some philosophy but need a bubblegum pink excuse? Join philosopher Ryan Miller for eleven weeks as we read and discuss classic philosophical texts in conjunction with brief scenes from Barbie.
‘You’re supposed to want to know.’
Weird Barbie’s insistent demand echoes the famous beginning of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. But why did Aristotle think that human beings all wanted to know, and did he even think women were fully human? What implications do his views have for how we should live? We will read and discuss selections from Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, and Generation of Animals to investigate these questions.
- Is there really a human nature?
- Does that nature make intellectual inquiry a moral obligation?
- Do men and women have the same nature?
Before the session, please check out the following:
- Pages 15-24 of the Barbie screenplay and/or this clip of Weird Barbie talking about the nature of Barbies and the need to find the truth in the real world
- Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Book I chapters 1-2 (these are all very short)
- Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book I chapter 1
- Aristotle's Generation of Animals, Book II chapter 1
- Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Book XVIII chapters 10 and 12 (scroll down)
