Gotta catch 'em all

[sylvar]

Jodi is interested in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series. Here's a list of the whole series. Gift-givers, please note that she has a few of these already...

1. Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing
   How is Jerry like Socrates? Is it rational for George to "do the opposite?" Would Simone de Beauvoir say that Elaine is a feminist? Is Kramer stuck in Kierkegaard's aesthetic stage?
   A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
    


2. The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer
   Does Nietzsche justify Bart's bad behavior? Is hypocrisy always unethical? What is Lisa's conception of the Good?
   We've already got one, you see...
    


3. The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real
   Can we be sure the world is really there, and if not, what should we do about it? The book also explores other philosophical puzzles including ethical ones like Cypher's decision to choose a pleasurable fake world over a wretched real one.
   We've already got one, you see...
    


4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale
   How can Buffy's religious symbolism be squared with creator Joss Whedon's professed atheism? Is Buffy truly a Kierkegaardian knight of faith? Do Faith's corruption and return to the good life demonstrate Platonic eudaimonism? Or do they illustrate the flaws in Nietzsche's superman concept? What does the show's treatment of vampires, demons, and other entities say about ethical attitudes toward nonhumans?
   We've already got one, you see...
    


5. The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All
   Can power be wielded for good, or must it always corrupt? Does technology destroy the truly human? Is beer essential to the good life?
   We've already got one, you see...
    


6. Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box
   Chapters include: "The Zen of Hitting," There are No Ties at First Base," Baseball and the Search for an American Moral Identity," "Damn Yankees: Why America Needs Reggie Jackson," "The Ethics of the Intentional Walk," "Saving the Twins with Rawlsian Justice," "Wait 'til Next Year: The Faith of a Cubs Fan," "Taking Umpiring Seriously," "He Missed the Tag!: The Ethics of Deception," and "The Asterisk in the Record Book: Roger Maris and Normative Assessments."
   A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
    


7. The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill Therefore I Am
   Is Tony Soprano a good man? Is Carmela a feminist? Morally speaking, who is the worst person on The Sopranos? Is watching the show harmful to one's moral health? And what if Tony had read Machiavelli instead of Sun Tzu?
   A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
    


8. Woody Allen and Philosophy: You Mean My Whole Fallacy is Wrong?
   These essays explore such topics as how Schopenhauer's theory of humor emerges in Annie Hall; why, for all his apparent pessimism, Allen gives a brighter alternative to the Bogartian nihilism of film noir; the importance of integrity for the Good Life, as found in Manhattan; and the fact that just because the universe is meaningless and life is pointless is no reason to commit suicide. Also here are droll, probing essays on why hedonism is a health hazard, and why, despite the fact that Earth may be swallowed by a black hole and crushed to the size of a peanut, the toilet continues to overflow.
   A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
    


9. Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts
   Among the occult lore here revealed, behold the best recipe for true courage, proof that self-deception does not yield happiness, how ethics can be applied to the branch of technology known as magic, why the Mirror of Erised isn’t adequate for real life, whether prophecy rules out free choice, and what dementors and boggarts can teach us about joy, fear, and the soul.
   We've already got one, you see...
    


10. Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy: The Cross, the Questions, the Controversy
    How can we decide what God intended to tell us? Why do Christians and Jews apparently report seeing two very different Mel Gibson movies? Was Christ a pacifist? Does the film truly follow the gospels? How can we blame Judas for doing what God wanted him to do? Did Georg Hegel answer Mel Gibson 200 years ahead of time?
    A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
     


11. More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded
    We're going in. One more time. And this time we're facing some pretty mean programs. Cynicism. Obfuscation. Postmodern despair. Plus, the usual obnoxious bunch of totally ruthless Agents, who always insist upon Conformity or Deletion. And just in case you were hoping to make it back, they've reconfigured the culture so there are hardly any phone booths left.
    A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
     


12. Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine
    Why do bad Sith nearly always tell the truth and good Jedi often tell lies? When is it justified to raise an army by breeding clones? If the Force must have a Dark Side, how can the Dark Side be evil? Why and how did the tyrannical Empire emerge from the free Republic? Are droids persons, entitled to civil rights? Is Yoda a Stoic or a Zen master?
    A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
     


13. Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way
    "Finally -- someone's treating comic books with the gravity they deserve. If, as Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living, then make your life mean something by reading Superheroes and Philosophy." -- Kevin Smith
    A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
     


14. The Atkins Diet and Philosophy
    Is the Atkins Diet a new wrinkle in capitalist exploitation or a twisted expression of our negative body images? Is Atkins a symbol of super-masculinity? Has the Atkins diet under other names really been around for centuries? Can Atkins make you a smarter person? Or could it cause Global Warming and melt the polar ice caps? What's the relation between Atkins, current concerns about the obesity epidemic, and Fat Liberation? And of course you’re also dying to know: How does the Atkins Diet fit into Kant's conception of the moral life or Rousseau's vision of a kinder, gentler kind of human society? How does the Atkins Diet's challenge to orthodox dietetics relate to Nietzsche's critique of objective truth or Kuhn's account of scientific revolutions?
    A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
     


15. The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy
    Under what conditions should we believe a story that runs counter to all our experience? Does might make right or are there objective moral rules? Would Albert Einstein have made any sense of the claim that time can flow at different rates in different worlds? If a boy is turned into a dragon, is the dragon still the same person as the boy? Can salvation be found in many religions or only in one? Do animals—even the ones that don’t talk—have souls?
    We've already got one, you see...
     


16. Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason
    Should we stop ALL the violence in hip hop? Does po-po have legit authority in the hood? How do we draw the line between the real Curtis Jackson and the artist 50 Cent, or the real Kimberly Jones and the artist Lil' Kim? Is hip-hop culture a "black" thang? Is it morally permissible for N.W.A. to call themselves niggaz and for Dave Chappelle to call everybody bitches?
    A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
     


17. Bob Dylan and Philosophy (coming in early January)
    The book examines different aspects of Dylan‛s creative thought through a philosophical lens, including personal identity, negative and positive freedom, enlightenment and postmodernism in his social criticism, and the morality of bootlegging. An engaging introduction to deep philosophical truths, the book provides Dylan fans with an opportunity to learn about philosophy while impressing fans of philosophy with the deeper implications of his intellectual achievements.
    A place of honor has been reserved on her bookshelf.
     

Comments

[sylvar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and I like the apparent fact that it includes an essay on fat liberation. I may have to pick it up just for that essay...