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

By Mark Rowlands

Ever sat down to watch your favorite TV show and thought, "How can doing this teach me how to live a better life, make the world a fairer place, define good from bad?" Mark Rowlands uses our favorite television shows to answer the great questions of philosophy. Let Buffy the Vampire Slayer make sense of the burden of responsibility, Ross and Rachel teach you about love and friendship, 24's Jack Bauer explain the importance of justice--all ably assisted by the finest philosophical theorists who have ever lived: Nietzsche, Epicurus, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0091908744
• ISBN13: 9780091908744
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Ebury Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 4.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.4" x 0.9" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Fun and thought-provoking

A great companion to his big screen sci-fi examples in "The Philosopher at the end of the universe", Mark Rowlands turns his eye to the small screen to illustrate the inherent conflict between the 4 strands that constitute the fractured modern worldview--individualism, relativism, voluntarism and instrumentalism. Themed chapters are culled from Buffy, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Friends, 24, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Frasier. And no worries, it makes a good read even if you've never seen some of these shows.