Songs, art & poetry on philosophical issues

As I mentioned a while ago, this fall I will be teaching a lower-division philosophy course on pop culture and philosophy. I am super excited about the course, which will pair traditional philosophical readings with things ranging from films, to television episodes, visual art, poetry, popular essays, and songs. However, I could really use some help on songs, poetry, and art.

Here are the philosophical issues I have on the syllabus:

• God's existence
• The ethics of faith and belief
• Religious epistemology (viz. revelation, argument, scripture)
• Divine hiddenness & atheism
• The problem of evil
• The afterlife and potentiality of divine judgment (viz. heaven and hell)
• Ethics (a module introducing moral theories, including non-Western thought, at a beginnger's level)
• Happiness & meaning in life
• Love
• Friendship
• Racism
• Feminism, sexuality & consent
• Death
• Disability
• Bearing & raising children
• Individuality
• Free will
• Non-Western perspectives on life and death
• The nature of reality

I realize this is a ton of topics to run through in a semester--but this is sort of how I roll, especially for lower-level courses, where my primary aims are to (i) get students excited about philosophy, (ii) introduce them to philosophical questions I hope will fascinate them and show them why philosophy is worth doing (qua the many questions it examines relevant to our lives), and (iii) get them to think independently about these questions at a beginner's level.

In any case, do you know of any songs, poetry, or artworks that speak to any of the above issues? I'm hoping to include a good mix of works that my students are likely already familiar with (e.g. popular songs), especially works that speak to students of diverse backgrounds and perspectives, as well as works they might be unfamiliar with (i.e. things "before their time" - for instance, I already have a couple of Pink Floyd songs, a Leonard Cohen song, and Joy Division song on the syllabus, along with ‘This is America’ by Childish Gambino/Donald Glover). Many thanks to anyone and everyone who chimes in!

Comments

[Sterling Knox]

Audre Lorde - Poetry Is Not A Luxury

[grad student]

Kendrick Lamar - How Much a Dollar Cost (on the afterlife, ethics of care)

Death Cab for Cutie - What Sarah Said (on death)

[Sergio]

Marcus: to address disability, you could present to the students and discuss in class
Frida Kahlo’s “The Broken Column”. It is available here:

https://www.fridakahlo.org/the-broken-column.jsp

To discuss racism (particularly, in the US), I would use Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America be America again” or one of the performances of “Strange fruit” (either that of Billie Hoiday or that of Nina Simone).

[Sergio]

And, if you want a non-western perspective on death, this Totonac poem from Manuel Espinosa Sainos might be useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF-qlpphwXo

[The Ghost of Ian Curtis]

I must know ... what Joy Division do you include on the syllabus?

[Marcus Arvan]

Ghost: Actually now there are two. I've decided to pair 'Love will tear us apart' and 'Control' on the philosophy of love.

[Justin W.]

Regarding God, divine hiddeness, and related issues, there is no better song than Tim Minchin's "Thank You God for Fixing the Cataracts of Sam's Mum." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JipYDDXo5C0

There's also, of course, XTC's "Dear God."

[cw]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRgIGMwZd2o

[grad student]

The Roots - Dear God 2.0 (on the problem of evil)

[Michel]

If I can plug the opposite approach for a minute (where you assign readings on pop culture, rather than looking for philosophy in pop culture), then I'd suggest considering papers like:

*"Appreciating Bad Art," John Dyck & Matt Johnson,
Journal of Value Inquiry 51 (2):279-292 (2017). A paper on why some movies are so bad they're good.

*"Is Dumbledore gay? Who's to Say?: Truth in Fiction and Authorial Authority," Tamar Szabó Gendler, The Philosophers' Magazine (52):94-97 (2011). A piece of popular philosophy on the power of authorial say-so.

*"The Paradox of Junk Fiction," Noël Carroll, Philosophy and Literature 18 (2):225-241 (1994). A paper on why we like page-turners, even though they're pretty formulaic.)

*"Profound offense and cultural appropriation," James O. Young, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 63 (2):135–146 (2005). A paper on whether and when cultural appropriation is offensive.

*"'Anything But Heavy Metal': Symbolic Exclusion and Musical Dislikes," Bethany Bryson, American Sociological Review Vol. 61, No. 5 (Oct., 1996), pp. 884-899. A paper on the influence of musical education and political tolerance on appreciation for heavy metal, country, gospel, and rap.

[Marcus Arvan]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone, and thanks Michel. That’s not the direction I’m approaching the course this time around—but it’s one I’ll consider in future iterations!

[syllabusing also]

This sounds like a great course! Hope it goes well. A few examples came to mind...

On Racism: Parker Bright's protest against Dana Schutz' Emmett Till painting (so much to unpack here!!)
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dana-schutz-painting-emmett-till-whitney-biennial-protest-897929

Art installation dealing with sexual violence/trauma recovery:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shannon-mackenzie-rotatio_us_58fe3c3be4b018a9ce5d88d3

Gender/Feminism: Spoken poem, "Shrinking Women"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02DDpoZ-Kg8

On the nature of reality, poems by Wallace Stevens:
"Six Significant Landscapes" or "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" (or pretty much any of his other poems!!)

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/six-significant-landscapes/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45236/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-blackbird

[syllabusing also]

ALSO, on God/meaning, there is Wilco's "I Can't Stand it"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPqQ2AWShqc
I don't know if it has enough in it to unpack, but "No love's as random as god's love" could totally be the name of a whole unit on God and meaning in my opinion. Other great Wilco lines from other songs include "Theologians, they don't know nothing about my soul" and " I wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a &@*!"

[syllabusing also]

OK, I will really stop blowing up this thread soon, this post got me really excited apparently.

It sounds like you are good on popular essays, but just wanted to make sure you've seen Ken Chung's blog. I've used his posts "My Fear of Dying" and "Is Dying a Transformative Experience" in classes before and students responded well to them. (I think I learned about him on Daily Nous, but if it was here, then nevermind!)

https://professorkenchung.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/we-are-afraid-of-dying-so-afraid-that-we-avoid/

https://professorkenchung.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/is-dying-a-transformative-experience/

[Recent PHD and Hip Hop Head]

I think that there is a lot of interesting philosophical material to draw from hip hop, especially when it comes to political philosophy and philosophy of race.

I'd suggest listening to the new Tribe Called Quest Album "We Got it From Here" especially the track "We the People"

Mos Def's Black on Both Sides, especially the track "Mathematics" and "Fear not of Man"

Brother Ali's Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color, especially the track "Letter to my Countrymen"

Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor, especially the track "Hurt Me Soul"

Best of luck!

[Recent PHD and Hip Hop Head]

Also Kendrick Lamar's "Hiii Power"