Directed by The Great Courses

David Kyle Johnson

Join Professor of Philosophy David Kyle Johnson, of King's College, on a 24-lecture exploration of the final frontiers of philosophy across several decades of science fiction in film and television. See how science fiction allows us to consider immense, vital - and sometimes controversial - ideas with a rare combination of engagement and critical distance

Rated TVPG

Mode of access: World Wide Web

Episode 1

Inception and the Interpretation of Art

Episode 2

The Matrix and the Value of Knowledge

Episode 3

The Matrix Sequels and Human Free Will

Episode 4

The Adjustment Bureau, the Force, and Fate

Episode 5

Contact: Science versus Religion

Episode 6

Arrival: Aliens and Radical Translation

Episode 7

Interstellar: Is Time Travel Possible?

Episode 8

Doctor Who and Time Travel Paradoxes

Episode 9

Star Trek: TNG and Alternate Worlds

Episode 10

Dark City, Dollhouse, and Personal Identity

Episode 11

Westworld and A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Episode 12

Transcendence and the Dangers of AI

Episode 13

The Thirteenth Floor: Are We Simulated?

Episode 14

The Orville, Orwell, and the "Black Mirror"

Episode 15

Star Wars: Good versus Evil

Episode 16

Firefly, Blake's 7, and Political Rebellion

Episode 17

Starship Troopers, Doctor Who, and Just War

Episode 18

The Prime Directive and Postcolonialism

Episode 19

Capitalism in Metropolis, Elysium, and Panem

Episode 20

Snowpiercer and Climate Change

Episode 21

Soylent Green: Overpopulation and Euthanasia

Episode 22

Gattaca and the Ethics of Reproduction

Episode 23

The Handmaid's Tale: Feminism and Religion

Episode 24

Kubrick's 2001 and Nietzsche's Übermensch