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  • Published: 1 July 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407099989
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

Everything I Know I Learned From TV

Philosophy For the Unrepentant Couch Potato



Who would you rather have as a philosophy teacher: Socrates or Homer Simpson? Philosophical life coaching for the unrepentant couch potato

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.

  • Published: 1 July 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407099989
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

About the author

Mark Rowlands

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.

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Praise for Everything I Know I Learned From TV

Its rigour and lucidity, the persuasive, easy way that philosophical dilemmas are attached to everyday life, Everything I Know I Learned From TV stands far above most previous efforts to popularise philosophy

Independent

The author's delivery may be jokey, but his philosophy is the real thing

You Magazine, Mail on Sunday