Examined Life

"The unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates
Taking philosophy out of the books and classrooms and putting it back onto the streets, Examined Life accompanies some of the world’s most influential thinkers in places and spaces that reflect and resonate their ideas. Peter Singer dissects the ethics of consumption against the backdrop of Fifth Avenue’s extravagant stores. Man’s relationship with the environment is theorized by the "Elvis of cultural theory", Slavoj Žižek, in a recycling centre. Judith Butler takes in San Francisco’s Mission District with a friend as they question society’s complex and often awkward relationship with disability. In New York, Cornel West – perhaps America’s best known public intellectual – vividly compares philosophy to jazz and blues within a backdrop of Manhattan as he drives through the streets, reminding us that great ideas are born of engaging with the hustle and bustle around us. Offering privileged moments with great thinkers from fields ranging from moral philosophy to cultural theory, Examined Life explores the way we see the world and philosophy’s ability to influence it.

Cast:
Cornel West
Judith Butler
Slavoj Zizek
Peter Singer

Director: Astra Taylor
Writer: Astra Taylor
Runtime: 90 min
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Production Year: 2009