Books
This page offers an overview of my major book projects, with links to published works and information about current research in progress. My scholarship spans philosophical anthropology, the philosophy of technology, and posthuman studies. I am the editor of Interpreting Man, a collection that introduces key thinkers in philosophical anthropology, and co-editor of Design, Mediation, and the Posthuman, which explores the intersections of design theory and posthuman thought. I co-authored Designing the Domestic Posthuman with Colbey Reid, an inquiry into the evolving material and symbolic dimensions of personhood in domestic life. My dissertation, Renewing the Anthropological Question, remains an early touchstone in my thinking about the human. My current manuscript, Moving Images, Mechanical Minds: Film, Philosophy, and the Future of Human-Robot Relations, is under contract with Palgrave MacMillan and slated for publication in 2026.
Moving Images, Mechanical Minds:
Film, Philosophy, And The Future of Human-Robot Relations
What do film and television contribute to our understanding of artificial intelligence and social robots?
In Moving Images, Mechanical Minds, Dennis M. Weiss argues that moving images are not mere illustrations of philosophical ideas but active participants in conceptual inquiry. Drawing on the work of philosopher Mary Midgley, Weiss shows how cinematic and televisual narratives help uncover the assumptions shaping our thinking about consciousness, personhood, moral agency, and care.
Engaging debates in philosophy of technology, film-philosophy, and posthumanism, Moving Images, Mechanical Minds argues that to understand the ethical, social, and existential stakes of artificial intelligence, we must take seriously the philosophical work performed by moving images. This volume will appeal to scholars and students in philosophy, film studies, media studies, and science and technology studies, as well as readers interested in the cultural dimensions of emerging technologies.
Through close analysis of works such as Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049, Westworld, and Humans, this book examines how film and television create powerful imaginative frameworks—what Midgley calls “organizing pictures”—that both reveal and reshape our understandings of human-machine relations. Weiss contends that science fiction plays a distinctive role in this process, offering speculative spaces where philosophical questions about artificial beings can be explored with emotional depth and conceptual complexity.