Kant Meets True Blood: Linking Television To Philosophy (PHOTOS)

Television and philosophy⎯they just naturally go together. Like peanut butter and jelly, politicians and corruption, Pat Sajak and Vanna White. As Homer Simpson said, "The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle. They're on TV!"

Starting in 600 B.C. when Thales of Miletus wondered what the heck everything was made of, humans have pondered questions of existence, knowledge and morality. We haven't found any clear answers but we're still asking the questions. And because television is so prevalent today (one and a half billion TV sets worldwide and growing⎯yikes!), naturally we look to the boob tube for enlightenment.

So pop a beer, sit back in the recliner and click the remote. With the help of this slideshow (and my book), you'll find that Marcia Brady can explain John Locke's social theory and you can learn about Aristotle's "Poetics" from an episode of "24."

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This is Plato's American Idol!

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Plato (424 B.C.-328 B.C.) suggested that everything we see around us is merely a shadow of an "Ideal Form" that exists somewhere else. So when the contestants for American Idol cover a song, they're just pale imitations of the "Ideal Form" of the song. At least, that's what Simon Cowell used to tell them.

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Plato (424 B.C.-328 B.C.) suggested that everything we see around us is merely a shadow of an "Ideal Form" that exists somewhere else. So when the contestants for American Idol cover a song, they're just pale imitations of the "Ideal Form" of the song. At least, that's what Simon Cowell used to tell them.

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Peter Archer (contributor) is an editor at Adams Media and the author of "The Quotable Intellectual."

 

Comments

[Seth Riddley]

02:29 AM on 08/04/2011

Jeremy Bentham wanted me to let you know John Stuart Mill didn't found Utilitarianism.

[ignacio sanabria]

12:24 PM on 07/26/2011

Hilarious. Now, try this one: ``30,000 days for Mr. William Kantshakes`` The history of William Shakespeare and Immanuel Kant intertwined in the life of a kid from Leavenworth, Washington.

[Britt Ponset]

02:27 PM on 07/25/2011

And for everything else?

There is The Slayer.

:)

[blacksmithn]

12:40 PM on 07/25/2011

Hey, if Gilligan's Island doesn't prove the nothingness of being, then I don't know what does.