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Philosophy in Film: MIT offers free online course looking at cinematic greats

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Irving Singer

Credit: Fair use | Singer family

Santayana expert Irving Singer examined Hitchcock, Bergman, Cocteau

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Santayana expert Irving Singer examined Hitchcock, Bergman, CocteauWhat do Hitchcock, James Joyce and Ingmar Bergman have in common? They all go under the microscope in a free online course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIT professor Irving Singer gave the course, Philosophy In Film and Other Media, in 2004. Four sessions were recorded for MIT Open Courses and are now available on YouTube.

Singer, an expert on the philosophy of George Santayana, passed away in 2015 at the age of 89. His course examined works of film in relation to thematic issues of philosophical importance that also occur in other arts, particularly literature and opera. He emphasize film’s ability to represent and express feeling as well as cognition.