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“I recommend it to everyone, whether already a Simpsons fan or not. You’ll be surprised at what wisdom lurks in these pages.” ––TOM MORRIS, author of If Aristotle Ran General Motors

“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.” ––PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Not only is The Simpsons and Philosophy highly educational, it enhances the viewing and re-viewing of the Simpsons episodes, and sheds a new light on the series.”

––PROFESSOR PER BROMAN, Butler University, Indianapolis

“ The Simpsons and Philosophy is a great place to begin any program in Simpsons studies. A serious look at a funny subject.” ––MARK I. PINSKY, author of The Gospel According to The Simpsons

“The Simpsons and Philosophy is a terrific book. Philosophers and non-philosophers come together to show that some very interesting philosophical issues arise from the characters, the thoughts, and the plots of The Simpsons. The essays are well written, many times provocative, reflective, intelligent without being elitist and, perhaps most valuable, a lot of fun to read. Not a Simpsons love-fest by any stretch (for example, could Bart be a Nietzschean hero or Heideggerian thinker?), this book is serious philosophy applied to a sometimes serious (and seriously funny) television show.

“There are also papers devoted to more literary sorts of concerns, such as parody, allusion, and irony, with attempts to show how The Simpsons can be compared with other forms of art, such as cinema. There are some splendid comparisons of The Simpsons with numerous other television series, for instance Seinfeld, Leave It to Beaver, The Jack Benny Show, and MASH, as well as films such as Psycho, Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

“I recommend this book to anyone who’s ever been caught off guard by an example of Homer being logically challenged, or Bart pulling a “dirty trick,” or a poignant remark by Lisa. I recommend this book to anyone interested in using a provocative, and sometimes challenging text in an Introduction to Philosophy class.

“You can learn from this book (now hear Homer’s and Bart’s voices echoing), “but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” –––PROFESSOR MICHAEL F. GOODMAN, Humboldt State University

The Simpsons and Philosophy

Popular Culture and Philosophy General Editor: William Irwin VOLUME 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000) Edited by William Irwin

VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer (2001) Edited by William Irwin, Mark T. Conard, and Aeon J. Skoble

VOLUME 3 The Matrix and Philosophy (2002) Edited by William Irwin

The Simpsons and Philosophy The D’oh! of Homer

Edited by

WILLIAM IRWIN, MARK T. CONARD, and AEON J. SKOBLE

OPEN COURT Chicago and La Salle, Illinois

Dedicated to Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure

(whom you might remember from such TV shows as The Simpsons)

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Meditations on Springfield? Part I: The Characters 1. Homer and Aristotle RAJA HALWANI 2. Lisa and American Anti-intellectualism AEON J. SKOBLE 3. Why Maggie Matters: Sounds of Silence, East and West ERIC BRONSON 4. Marge’s Moral Motivation GERALD J. ERION and JOSEPH A. ZECCARDI 5. Thus Spake Bart: On Nietzsche and the Virtues of Being Bad MARK T. CONARD Part II: Simpsonian Themes 6. The Simpsons and Allusion: “Worst Essay Ever” WILLIAM IRWIN and J.R. LOMBARDO 7. Popular Parody: The Simpsons Meets the Crime Film DEBORAH KNIGHT 8. The Simpsons, Hyper-Irony, and the Meaning of Life CARL MATHESON 9. Simpsonian Sexual Politics DALE E. SNOW and JAMES J. SNOW Part III: I Didn’t Do It: Ethics and The Simpsons 10. The Moral World of the Simpson Family: A Kantian Perspective JAMES LAWLER 11. The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family PAUL A. CANTOR 12. Springfield Hypocrisy JASON HOLT 13. Enjoying the so-called “Iced Cream”: Mr. Burns, Satan, and Happiness DANIEL BARWICK 14. Hey-diddily-ho, Neighboreenos: Ned Flanders and Neighborly Love DAVID VESSEY 15. The Function of Fiction: The Heuristic Value of Homer JENNIFER L. MCMAHON Part IV: The Simpsons and the Philosophers 16. A (Karl, not Groucho) Marxist in Springfield