Philosophers in film

Cross posted at Political Arguments.

I finally got around to watching Closer last night. One of the main characters, Anna (Julia Roberts), is a photographer whose portraits of "strangers" appear throughout the film.

But who are these strangers? They are mostly prominent twentieth-century philosophers, photographed by Steve Pyke for his 1995 book entitled, unsurprisingly, Philosophers (also available from Amazon).

The most prominent portrait, which graces the invitation to Anna's show and is the focal point of the exhibition, is of G.E.M. Anscombe and Peter Geach. A portrait of Philippa Foot stands to the side. Unfortunately the shots are not available on Pyke's website, but those of Isaiah Berlin, C.L.R. James, Iris Murdoch, Jean Baudrillard, Noam Chomsky, and A.J. Ayer are.

Alas, Pyke's portrait of a certain figure, which I have hanging in my study, is also absent.