Examined Life | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
Directed by | Astra Taylor |
Produced by | Ron Mann Silva Basmajian |
Starring |
Cornel West Slavoj Žižek Judith Butler Kwame Anthony Appiah Michael Hardt Martha Nussbaum Avital Ronell Peter Singer Sunaura Taylor |
Distributed by | Zeitgeist Films |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
88 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Examined Life is a 2008 Canadian documentary film about philosophers directed by Astra Taylor. The film features eight influential modern philosophers walking around New York and other metropolises, discussing the practical application of their ideas in modern culture.
The philosophers featured are Cornel West, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Michael Hardt, Slavoj Žižek, and Judith Butler, who is accompanied by Taylor's sister and disability activist Sunny (Sunaura Taylor).
The film appeared in the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival and the 2009 Kingston Canadian Film Festival. It is co-produced by Sphinx Productions and the National Film Board of Canada, in association with the Ontario Media Development Corporation, TVOntario and Knowledge Network.
Reception has been generally favorable (Rotten Tomatoes gives it 76%), However, Martha Nussbaum subsequently complained in The Point magazine, that although Examined Life displays "a keen visual imagination and a vivid sense of atmosphere and place" it nonetheless "presents a portrait of philosophy that is... a betrayal of the tradition of philosophizing that began, in Europe, with the life of Socrates".