Thomas Hibbs, “Inescapable Moral Horizons: Kieslowski's Blue and Charles Taylor on the Self in Moral Space”

About This Event

The second public keynote talk of the Faith, Film, Philosophy 2025 series organized by the Gonzaga Faith & Reason Institute on the theme "Psyches, Personae, and Characters: Human Selves in Film" features Baylor University philosopher, scholar, and educator Thomas Hibbs presenting a talk on the theme of selfhood and moral agency in the films of Krzysztof Kieslowski as illuminated by the philosopher Charles Taylor.

Toward the end of the film Red, the last in the Three Colors trilogy from Krzysztof Kieslowski (1941-96), the main character, Valentine, says, "I feel something important is happening around me." Many of the films by the acclaimed Polish director feature characters who realize that, as the moral philosopher Charles Taylor puts it, "something incomparably important is involved" in their deliberations and choices. In the specific political and social context of late 20th-century Poland, Kieslowski's films attempt to recover and depict what Taylor calls "inescapable moral horizons." Perhaps its most dramatic depiction occurs in Blue, the first film in the trilogy. The story of Julie, Blue’s main character, illustrates the many ways in which a self that is "free from all frameworks" is in the grips of an "appalling identity crisis." Through the course of the film, as Julie recovers her connection to others, the film also demonstrates the intimate connection between individual "identity and a kind of orientation" in moral space.

Thomas Hibbs, Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Dean Emeritus at Baylor University, is a prolific Catholic author, speaker, philosopher, and university administrator. His research and teaching focus on moral philosophy and aesthetics. He has published eight books, the most recent of which is Theology of Creation: Ecology, Art, and Laudato Si’ (University of Notre Dame Press, 2023), as well as many scholarly and popular articles, and has delivered lectures across the U.S. and abroad. Hibbs was the inaugural dean of the Baylor Honors College (2003-2019) and the founding Director of Baylor in Washington (2015-2019). He has held administrative appointments as department chair (Boston College), dean (Baylor), and president (University of Dallas). Hibbs directs a summer program for Baylor undergraduates in Washington, DC on religion and social life.

Dr. Hibbs offered a public lecture at the inaugural Faith, Film, Philosophy Seminar in 2007.

This event is part of the Faith, Film, Philosophy 2025 series. Events will take place each night of the week of October 6-10 on the Gonzaga campus.