Hailed as one of America's original art forms, film has the distinctive character of crossing both high and low art. But film has done more than this. According to American philosopher Stanley Cavell, film was also a place where America in the 30s and 40s did its thinking, a tradition that was taken up and enriched throughout world cinema. Can film indeed think? That is, can film do the work of philosophy?

Following Cavell's lead to think along the tear of the analytic-continental philosophical traditions, this book draws from both sides of the divide to reflect on this question. Spanning generations and disciplines, pondering everything between art house classics and mainstream blockbusters, Thinking Film: Philosophy at the Movies aims to fling open the doors to this conversation on all sides. Inquiring both into philosophy's word on film as well as film's word to philosophy, the interdisciplinary dialogue of this book traverses both the conceptual and the particular as it considers how film catalyzes our thinking and sets us talking. After viewing the world through film, we find our world and selves transformed by deeper understanding and new possibilities.
This book aims to provide a novel and engaging 'way in' to thinking with and about this enduringly popular art form.