Plato tells us, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The eight contemporary philosophers profiled in Astra Taylor’s lively and engaging documentary no doubt would agree. Whether it’s Cornel West speaking in brain-bending sentences from the backseat of a car (“I’m a jazz man in the world of ideas”) or Kwame Anthony Appiah talking about what it means to be a global citizen, these intellectuals offer a wide-ranging set of concerns to ponder. Peter Singer, who focuses on applied ethics, believes that we have the moral obligation to really think about how we spend our money, while Michael Hardt tries to imagine what modern revolution in the United States might look like. Director Taylor winningly transcends the typical “talking heads” portrait by bringing her subjects out into the world—on walks, in rowboats or right beside a garbage dump—where their engagement with present-day existence can be seen, heard and felt. Bay Area residents will particularly appreciate the stroll taken by UC Berkeley professor Judith Butler and disabled artist and writer Sunaura “Sunny” Taylor as they interrogate the very notion of taking a walk on the streets and in the shops of San Francisco’s colorful Mission District.


Photographed by John M. Tran. With Cornel West, Slavoj Zizek, Judith Butler. (88 min, Zeitgeist Films)