The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer

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The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer
File:The Doh of Homer.jpg
Book cover
Author William Irwin, Mark T. Conard, Aeon J. Skoble
Illustrator Joan Sommers Design
Country United States
Language English
Series Popular Culture and Philosophy (Vol. 2)
Subject Philosophy, The Simpsons
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Open Court
Publication date
 February 28, 2001
Pages 256
ISBN 0-8126-9433-3
Preceded by Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing
Followed by The Matrix and Philosophy

The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer is a non-fiction book analyzing the philosophy and popular culture effects of the American animated sitcom, The Simpsons, published by Open Court. The book is edited by William Irwin, Mark T. Conard and Aeon J. Skoble, each of whom also wrote one of the eighteen essays in the book.[1]

The book was released on February 28, 2001, as the second volume of Open Court Publishing's Popular Culture and Philosophy series, which currently includes eighty books.[2] The book has gone on to be extremely successful, both in sales and critically, and is also used as a main text in various universities with philosophy courses.

Contents

The book includes contributions from eighteen academics in the field of philosophy. Topics included are comparisons of the characters in the show, such as Homer Simpson and Aristotle, or Bart Simpson and Friedrich Nietzsche.[3] The book brings up topics such as why Homer's appeal is universal by arguing that he speaks to fundamental conflicts about what gives human pleasure.[4]

Other topics include the manner in which the show makes philosophical statements, and its opinions on sexuality in politics.[5] Religion is also discussed in the book, such as the guilt Homer feels for not going to church, or Ned Flanders experiencing tragedies, despite following the Bible closely.[6]

Reception

The book was highly successful, selling over 203,000 copies, making it the best selling book in the Open Court Publishing's Popular Culture and Philosophy series.[3] The book was also critically successful, highlighting the philosophical themes that the book was able to make with The Simpsons,[7] such as Booklist, who wrote, "[...]these pieces make erudite concepts accessible by viewing things through the lens of a great cartoon series,"[3] or Publishers Weekly who wrote, "Fans of The Simpsons are certain to find this book to be the perfect rebuttal for those who dismiss the show as a no-brainer."[5]

At Siena Heights University a course titled "Animated Philosophy and Religion" uses the book as one of the main texts in order to help teach philosophy.[8][9][10] The book has been praised for being able to make connections to philosophical studies and to youth, by using popular culture.[11] The professors who use the book say the book "helps draw people to philosophy."[12] A course titled "Simpsons and Philosophy", devoted entirely to the show & philosophy, is offered at the University of California, Berkeley[13] as part of the university's controversial DeCal program in which students take courses taught by their peers.[14]

Steve Carroll of The Age criticized the book and others like it for watering down philosophical content while making tenuous connections with popular themes in order to maximize appeal to consumers.[15] The book was satirized in an article titled "The 'Popular Culture and Philosophy' Books and Philosophy: Philosophy, You’ve Officially Been Pimped", in the online journal Flow TV.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ "Popular Culture and Philosophy series" www.opencourtbooks.com. Retrieved on November 28, 2007
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "booklist" defined multiple times with different content
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Jennifer Case, "Spring could bring student-taught classes", Daily Bruin, 21 January 2004, accessed 22 October 2008.
  15. ↑ Steve Carroll, "You ain't nothin' but an existential hound dog", The Age, 4 September 2004, accessed May 31, 2008.
  16. ↑ Brian Ott, Flow, Vol. 3 No. 3, 7 October 2005, accessed June 1, 2008. The “Popular Culture and Philosophy” Books and Philosophy: Philosophy, You’ve Officially Been Pimped
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