Santa Monica College Parasite Film Analysis Course Description – Philosophy 1 To know thyself is to love thyself, and to love thyself is to love thy neigh

Santa Monica College Parasite Film Analysis Course Description – Philosophy 1

To know thyself is to love thyself, and to love thyself is to love thy neighbor. This course will examine what it means to love and know thyself through the lens of Western philosophy. We shall consider Western philosophy as the foundation of our current moment with all of its challenges and joys. Each week students will read selections from the history of Western philosophy and apply the philosophical ideas to a contemporary film to self reflect, to analyze self and world with philosophical concepts. We will ask questions such as how did we get here and how can we become better as individuals and humanity as a whole. This course requires students to think independently as well as understand the readings, and to develop critical analysis skills to respectfully engage in online discussions about high-stakes issues.

Film Analysis Prompt

Your analysis for the film, The Devil’s Backbone, should be analyzed with the ideas we discussed after the film and Hume and Emerson. ( film analysis need based on the philosopher point Hume, Emerson document below)

Instructions – Please read carefully After watching the required film, students will write a 2 page analysis paper using the philosophy covered in the course. You are free to discuss the film as you wish, just be sure to focus on the philosophical content of the film to analyze the film. Also, use quotes from the readings to defend your analysis, your thoughts about the film. Please DO NOT hand in a plot synapses, a summary of the film, or a list of things you enjoyed about the film, but rather analyze the film for its philosophical, ethical, moral, political, etc content. Be sure to think for yourself. Please do not rely on the commentary of others for composing your paper. Your ideas matter!! The goal is to bring together the course readings and the film to defend your opinion about the philosophical content of the film. Summaries and film synopsis will result in ZERO points !

General Criteria

• 2 pages

Double Spaced • 1” Margins
Avenir or New Times Roman
Cite ALL resources. You do NOT need to use any particular style (e.g., APA or MLA). Pick one style and be consistent. For example, after a quote, (Rousseau, p. 572). Also, please include a Bibliography
You may use first person “I”

Film Philosophical Analysis -Enlightenment – Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Emerson

film need to watch

Parasite Enlightenment – Directed by Bong Joon-ho 2019 Study Questions – David Hume
Student Name: ___________________________
1. What kind of a philosopher is Hume? Provide a definition.
i. __________________ skeptical philosopher____________________________
ii. ________a modern or ancient philosopher who to some extend, denies the possibility of knowledge
or rational beliefs. He opposed the establishment of religions like Islam and Christianity
_________________________________
2. What are the four contents of the human mind and the two major divisions?
One: ____________impression_______________________________
1. _______primary arising from the soul for reasons that are not known
_______________________________________
3. ______secondary- focuses on reflection of simple ideas
________________________________________
Two: ____ideas________________________________________
2. __simple – ideas comprising of thought which are a copy of the primary impression
4. ____complex- melody of a piece of music that requires primary impressions to hear the notes
__________________________________________
3. What are the two test for causal reasoning?
i. ______does the subject contain the predicate?________________________________________
ii. ______can the opposite result to contradictions?________________________________________
4. Complete the chart below with Hume’s two kinds of judgments (causal reasoning) and the null category.
A priori
REASON
A posteriori
Null
Empty category
nonsense
Analytic
Analytic
A priori
Necessary principles of reason
Synthetic
A posteriori
experience
Synthetic
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5. What is the criteria for critics to judge art?
In order to judge the aesthetic value critics should
i. have a delicacy of judgment ________________________________________________
ii. Constantly practicing ________________________________________________
iii. Be habitually making comparisons_______________________________________________
iv free from prejudice________________________________________
v. have a good sense______________________________________________
6. What is the most that can be said about morality according to Hume?
A given character of a person such as laziness or benevolence can be a virtue or a vice. To the most careless
observers, there appear to be dispositions like generosity and benevolence and affections such as love and
compassion. It is, however, a mistake to reduce human kindness to a single cause.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. What does Hume mean by the following quote: “All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to
nothing beyond itself, and is always real, wherever a man is conscious of it. But all determinations of the
understanding are not right; because they have a reference to something beyond themselves, to wit, real matter
of fact, and are not always conformable to that standard.”
The sentiments of people usually differ regarding beauty or deformity. A person could believe in his sentiments
if he made them while in the right mind. However, the sentiments of people can be understood differently by
other people. Standards should, therefore, be established where all people need to meet them even if some
people may not comfortably agree with the standards.
________________________________________________________________________________________
8. How are judgments of taste different from moral judgments? Why is this distinction important?
Moral judgments are based on a recognizable code of ethics which understood by all people, even if some
people do not subscribe to it. Taste judgment, on the other hand, is not based on ethics. They are based on the
approximation of an object to a standard that is set by an individual or a specified group of individuals. Taste
judgment does not take into account if other people are subjected to suffering or not. It ensures that people
maintain high levels of morality in society
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Emerson’s “Self Reliance” Study Questions
1. What does Emerson mean by “Man is his own star”?
He meant that an individual should be his own light. A person needs to create his own enlighten path. The only way
that a person can be near God is through himself with Jesus Christ being the mediator.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. What does Emerson mean by the following? “Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the
inmost in due time becomes the outmost”?
Emerson means that we need to believe in ourselves and speak candidly and openly and what we believe to be true.
Many people believe they have nothing to share and fear to share thought due to backlash and criticism. However,
Emerson says we need to be brave and share what we believe to be true.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How is Jung’s Collective Unconscious relate to Emerson’s notion of self reliance?
Collective unconscious is based on the idea that every person has his own personal unconscious. According to
collective unconscious, archetypes are conceptual patterns that shape our religious concepts. Therefore, it is upon an
individual to use the concepts and be self-reliant. A person is supposed to use these concepts and be near God.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
4. “To believe you own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is
genius.” Describe Emerson’s understanding of the notion of “genius.”
According to Emerson, genius is described as the individuality of a person. A true genius is a person who believes in
himself and his thoughts. A poet needs to believe in himself more because if he cannot believe in himself how will
other believe him. A genius continues to work on his work until it is more functional to him or the society as a whole.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
5. “Do not seek for things outside of yourself.” “Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely
what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.”
Provide an example from your own life where this happened as a way to express what Emerson means.
The statement means that we should have confidence in our opinion and believe that it is true for us and other people.
An example of this is when I doubted the answer I had for a given question only to write what I was told by a friend.
However, my thoughts about answering the question were right and the opinion I received from a friend was wrong. I
learnt from those who got the question right that what I was thinking was actually right as they got the question right.
Since then, I have learnt to always trust in my opinions.
________________________________________________________________________________________
6. What does Emerson mean by the following “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
It means that the only thing which can prevent a person from realizing his potential is the strength of the mind. The
primary goal of human existence is, therefore, to find integrity. We need to follow our beliefs and discover the truth on
our own.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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7. What does Emerson mean by the following “By popular estimate, virtues are penances.”
He meant that in the way of coming closer to God, an individual would have to walk away from sin. Individuals
develop virtues as a way of paying back for their wrong deeds the same way an individual asks for forgiveness after
doing something terrible.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8. Explain the following quotes: “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.” And “You will
always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you.”
The first quote means that we need always to do what makes us happy and not what pleasures other people. In many
instances, people tend to focus on what people will say and forget about themselves. What a person does is what
concerns him or her and not other people
Individuals should not allow their independence to be compromised by what other people would think about what they
are doing given they are doing the right thing.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9. How are the two following quotes related to each other? (1) “Dare to contradict yourself.“ (2) “A foolish consistency
is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
The first quote encourages people to challenge themselves with more significant things. The second quoted is related to
this as it also reinforces on the fact that great people should not be afraid of thinking c0nsistentl. Only foolish people
are so scared of thinking.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
10, How does the quote by Jonathan Swift (below) relate to the following quote by Emerson? “To be great is to be
misunderstood”
Jonathan Swift: “When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in
confederacy against him.” (Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting)
The first phrase means that individuals who are always misunderstood by the masses are great people as they have
distinct ideas from the crowd.it is only a genius who will have different ideas from the crowd and this will make the
person to be noticed. Individuals will take advantage of the disorders that exist in the world to have an
opporunity._____________________________________________________________________________________
11. What does Emerson mean by the following? “If we live truly, we shall see truly.”
He meant that we don’t need to rely on other people. If we are confident that what we are doing is right, we should go
ahead and get it done. If it is the best course of action, then the result will be very clear. We should not be afraid of
what people will say. A person should not follow another person’s path, but rather create her own.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Explain the following quote, “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the
triumph of principles.”
A person cannot be happy doing something which goes against his morals. Emerson is encouraging people to follow
what they believe in and their conscience. Individuals should not allow themselves to be pressured by others by rather,
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believe in themselves.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
13. What is the name of the group Emerson started that supported the abolitionist movement to stop slavery?
Transcendentalist movement
__________________________________________________________________________________________
14. Why did Emerson write a paper opposing the movement that he started?
Because most the leading transcendentalists started to focus on ending slavery and the mission of starting the
movement was no longer there. He believed that God could be found in nature, and spending time with nature was one
of the ways of becoming closer to God. It is at this point that he wrote the self-reliance works.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
15. Why was Emerson fired from Harvard? Why did they apologize and invite him to give a talk at Harvard 40 years
later?
He was fired because he was in agreement with the church and its philosophy. He believed the rituals carried out by the
church were not consistent with the initial intention of Jesus. After 40 year, the university apologized and he was
invited to give a speech which was considered to be a sermon. He was invited because he was liberating his audience
from the idea that they need to take matching orders from the church. He represented a turning point for utilitarianism
from a liberal Christianity to a a religious liberalism that was independent of historical traditions.
______________________________________________________________________________________
16. When was Emerson alive?
Between 25th May 1803 and 27th April 1882
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Running head: KNOWING YOURSELF THROUGH PHILOSOPHY
Knowing yourself through philosophy
Student’s name:
Institutional affiliation:
1
KNOWING YOURSELF THROUGH PHILOSOPHY
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Knowing yourself through philosophy
Philosophy has been, since its inception, a great source of answers to the many
unanswered questions in human life and the universe. It is a field of study that has helped to
unearth many unknowns and bridge the gap in knowledge regarding fundamental aspects in
human life. It is at the core of understanding issues like existence, reason, governance, language,
knowledge, politics, values, and mind. Today, philosophy continues to guide individuals into
understanding core concepts in their immediate environment as well as understand themselves.
Understanding one’s self is a complicated task considering that there are traits only known to
others about one’s self, as well as unknown traits to both an individual as well as others. This
essay focusses on assessing my character traits and behavioral inclination based on philosophical
principles to aid in understanding myself.
According to Kant, knowing oneself is called enlightenment (Kant, 1784). He indicates
that enlightenment is a continuous active effort to gain reasoning, judgement, understanding, and
thinking and avoid dependence on other people. He asserts;
The enlightenment is a social movement, an effort to return the power of thinking,
reasoning, understanding, the art of judgment to the individual. Rather than relying on
preachers, creatures, teachers & co., one relies on oneself (Kant, 1784, p. 2).
This statement reveals that self-knowledge is gained from others – the preachers, teachers,
creatures, and co, who help one to understand their traits and virtues. However, Kant indicates
that for one to attain self-understanding, they must be willing to master the reasoning,
judgement, thinking, and understanding such that they do not rely on others again for selfunderstanding (Kant, 1784). As such, those that understand themselves are self-conscious of
their thinking, understanding, judgement, and reasoning, and can engage in nearly all activities
KNOWING YOURSELF THROUGH PHILOSOPHY
3
without the help of others. They are aware of themselves and equally handle most of the things
on their own without assistance or interference from outsiders. Kant adds that self-knowledge is
not only the art of mastering these fundamental aspects of life, but the courage to put them into
use. As such, only their active use and utilization will reflect an understanding of self.
Kant indicates that enlightenment is a process that begins with knowing what to do,
practicing and later on learning from mistakes and correcting the possible errors and issues
(Kant, 1784). Kant argues that there are many baby steps towards enlightenment, steps that are
facilitated by the guardian. Kant emphasizes that all courageous acts are associated with great
danger, yet one must have the courage to practice what they have learned or heard in order to
learn through the errors and baby steps towards mastery. According to Kant, one must submit to
the guardians in their initial states in order to learn the baby steps (Kant, 1784). Learning these
steps and experimenting helps one to gain a better understanding of self, as well as how to handle
others so that they can have the best experiences.
Kant adds that knowing one’s self is also visible from the practice of natural gifts. Kant
indicates that individuals are guided by the soul and it is their mandate to ensure that they follow
its guidance in order to be free (Kant, 1784). Based on this argument, it can be argued that those
that know themselves have freedom and are not swayed by the false painting or issues from the
guardians or peers. Kant adds that those that know themselves apply rationality in their decisions
and act in accordance with reason and soul. Kant indicates that, “Furthermore, every time one
denies ones natural gifts, one moves further away from freedom, making it that much harder the
next time tried” (Kant, 1784, p.5). This argument indicates that there is constant imbalance
between freedom and indulgence, and choosing freedom is the true virtue for knowing one’s self.
KNOWING YOURSELF THROUGH PHILOSOPHY
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Emerson indicates that one must struggle to understand oneself because every individual
is his or her own star (Emerson, n.d.). This means that although others might struggle to
understand an individual, they will not understand the individual exhaustively. He adds evidence
from Buddha that everyone should be a light unto himself or herself. Emerson argues that
although others might struggle to understand an individual, they might only understand the
collective conscious part of the individual and not the personal conscious. Emerson adds that the
personal unconscious is built by an individual over time, whereas the collective unconscious is
universal and cannot be built. The collective conscious includes the spiritual, religious, and
mythological issues and experiences and inform the outsiders of the possible character and
practices of an individual (Emerson, n.d.). However, the personal unconscious is the repository
for understanding oneself.
Emerson also indicates that understanding one’s genius is fundamental in understanding
one’s self. He indicates that genius is original talent in producing x-things for which no
determinate rule is given (Emerson, n.d.). As such, individuals have innate hidden abilities and
talents that must be mastered by the individual before being manifest in form of art or science.
However, it is worth noting that most rules offered by genius are prescribed to arts, but not
science. Based on the Latin definition of genius – a guardian spirit that each individual is given
at birth, it follows that every individuals should strive to understand their genius as a critical step
in their journey to understand himself or herself. However, considering Emerson’s argument that
the artist might not understand how they came by their own ideas and products, it follows that
understanding one’s genius and thus self is a continuous unending process. Emerson indicates;
1390, from L. genius “guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from
birth; spirit, incarnation, wit, talent,” from root of gignere “beget, produce” (see kin),
KNOWING YOURSELF THROUGH PHILOSOPHY
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from PIE base gen- “produce.” Meaning “person of natural intelligence or talent” first
recorded 1649 (Emerson, n.d., p. 1).
This excerpt indicates that understanding of self is depended on understanding of one’s spirit and
intelligence. There is need to understand one’s natural intelligence and talent as part of
understanding oneself.
Emerson also indicates that another way to know oneself is through seeking that which is
inherent in an individual and n…
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