Philosophy and the Philosophers in Tom Stoppard’s Later Plays
Филологический класс May 31, 2023
Tom Stoppard's later plays The Hard Problem and Leopoldstadt engage with the history of science and philosophy on stage. The Hard Problem centers on consciousness, with characters at a brain science institute debating mind-body problems, altruism versus egoism, and contemporary thinkers such as Richard Dawkins, Thomas Nagel, and John Searle; the protagonist Hilary is 'not proud to be a materialist.' Leopoldstadt, Stoppard's most personal play, depicts an extended Austrian-Jewish family whose members became Holocaust victims, incorporating figures like Sigmund Freud and Ludwig Wittgenstein to evoke pre-World War II Vienna, and alludes to Alexander Waugh's book on the Wittgenstein family. The article examines how Stoppard's theatrical experiments present philosophical and moral ideas.