Over the years, countless articles have been written about the animated sitcom, The Simpsons, which predicts the future, and most recently foretold the election of Donald Trump to the White House.
In addition to offering occasional insights into the future, the series appears to be imbued with deeper meaning for the University of Glascow, Scotland, which has now introduced a new one-day course into its curriculum entitled “D’oh! The Simpsons Introduce Philosophy.”
The professor who will teach the class, John Donaldson, claims that the American cartoon is an excellent “vehicle” for introducing students to philosophy. “The creator of the Simpsons, Matt Groening, was a philosophy student, and this is evident in every episode,” said Donaldson to the newspaper The Scotsman.
“The Simpsons is a very refined work of pop culture, which touches on a number of philosophical issues. The course has proved enormously popular among social media. It has gone viral. And quite frankly, never till now have we had such a response.”
Professor Donaldson wants his students to discuss what the great philosophers — like Aristotle — might have thought of the series’ main character, the highly flawed but likable Homer Simpson.
“The Simpsons series is one of the greatest cultural artifacts of the modern world, in part because it is so packed with philosophy,” he said. “Aristotle, Kant, Marx, Camus, and many other great thinkers are represented in a pure philosophical form: animation…. It’s a cartoon of a great tapestry. There’s so much going on in it,” he added. “It encourages you to reflect on what’s important in life.”
Designed for members of the public interested in philosophy, this unique one-day course will begin on January 14, and costs 30 pounds per person.
Source: BBC
