War in the 20th Century

Within the twentieth century, the event that stands out as inhumane treatment of fellow humans was the Holocaust. “The Pianist” is a movie that explains the life of a Polish Jewish person who has to endure the racial differences between the Germans and themselves. However, we can argue whether the Germans cruel standards are acceptable in the metaphysical concepts. The philosophical concepts expressed in the Pianist are the concept of a person, theories of freedom, and the meaning of life. This being said, I deem that the concepts stated above are shown through various scenes in the Pianist.

The concept of a person is approached differently in the Pianist. Philosophers believe that the concept of a person is closely related to personhood, or what it means to be a person. This is an essential component to most legal and moral systems. When an individual is considered to be a person, they are the holder of certain rights and privileges. Most importantly these are individuals with the right of life. In “The Pianist” the concept of a person is not acknowledged by the German Nazi’s. The movie outlines Hitler’s policies against the Jewish race during the 1930’s. One of the main characters known as Szpilman witness brutal treatment to many of the Polish Jews as they are killed instantly by gun shot. This concept of a person is what the German’s did not follow; they treated the Jewish people inhumanely. There were no legal or moral systems at the time of the Holocaust. Hitler was too demanding trying to create a superior race. In Daniel Dennett’s view the concept of a person is basically differentiating whether various beings are humans. Daniel Dennett later proposes his theory of personhood by stating, “People do not begin to treat a living creature as a person only after the objective fact of its personhood has been established.” This idea can be seen in the movie as the Nazi’s do not treat the Jewish people as humans. In one scene in the movie the Germans enter the...