Everything I Know I Learned from TV: Philosophy for the Unrepentant Couch Potato - Softcover

Rowlands, Mark

3.53

130 ratings by Goodreads

9780091898359: Everything I Know I Learned from TV: Philosophy for the Unrepentant Couch Potato

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0091898358 ISBN 13: 9780091898359

Publisher: Ebury Pr, 2005

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"Everything I Know I Learned From TV" uses characters we all know and love and their TV worlds to explain the great questions of philosophy. The only qualifications you need to join in are ownership of a sofa, a remote control, a sense of humour and an enquiring mind. The philosophy discussed is very much 'life' philosophy, answering the questions we all want to know: How do you define what is a good life to lead? "The Simpsons" disagree over the right way to live with Nietzsche and Diogenes on hand to take sides. What is real happiness? Aristotle fights Descartes for the heart and mind of "Sex and the City's" Carrie Bradshaw. Can a good person do a bad thing? Kant and Socrates pay a call on Tony Soprano and his latter-day Mob to talk moral philosophy. Where does love end and friendship begin? Rachel and Ross ask Plato about the philosophy of emotions and wonder if they're just good friends. Is the pursuit of self-knowledge a good thing? Socrates helps Niles and Frasier Crane and their dad deal with the relative merit of the examined and the unexamined life. And much more. "Excellent- distinctly laddish- serves to inject a degree of passion into the bloodless halls of philosophy - not only is each chapter a model of philosophical exposition, conveying philosophical ideas with exemplary verve and clarity, the book also manages to connect the philosophy to the movies in a natural and convincing way." - "TLS". "Hugely entertaining...Rowlands knows his stuff and marries some of the tougher philosophical arguments to the more accessible conduit of popular entertainment...enjoyable and illuminating" - "Waterstone's Books Quarterly".

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About the Author:

Mark Rowlands is a beer-drinking, surfing bum who also happens to be the Director of the Centre for Philosophy at the University of Exeter. He has written eight books, including The Environmental Crisis and Animals Like Us and taught everywhere from Oxford to Alabama. His charismatic mix of high learning and pop attitude make his books a thumping good read.

Review:

Who would you rather have as a philosophical life coach: Socrates or Homer Simpson? Professor Mark Rowlands—author of Philosopher at The End of the Universe—contends that all the revelations of a college philosophy course can be gleaned from shows like Sex and the City, Friends, Seinfeld, and The Sopranos.

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