“One of the most exciting things about teaching philosophy is that I get to live in the question,” William Irwin said.
Cabrini’s philosophy club, along with the philosophy department was fortunate enough to welcome author and philosophy professor William Irwin to campus for an informal discussion about philosophy and pop culture.
Irwin is the chair of the philosophy at King’s College as well as the creator and author of the series “Philosophy and Pop Culture.” His books explore popular TV shows and draw out the deep philosophical questions that viewers may not necessarily pick up on while watching the shows.
When Irwin started teaching in grad school, he found that he could make connections for his students by using the popular television show Seinfeld. He then decided to memorialize his connections in a book of essays and the rest is history.
Other than Seinfeld Irwin has written books about the Matrix, Mad Men and the Simpsons and how they explore philosophical questions and ideas.
“It only works if you have a piece of pop culture that people can relate to,” Irwin said.
His contributions to philosophy are what motivated the club to invite Irwin to campus.
“The series was created as an effort to introduce more people to philosophy and we explored some of the great questions that philosophy deals with by showing and examining their presence throughout our pop culture,” president of the philosophy club, Danton Moyer, said.
The conversation consisted of questioning what makes pop culture pop culture, counter culture, why people like what they like, engaging with culture and monoculture.
A large topic of conversation was cultivation of intimacy which is finding something you really love and bonding over it with someone else.
Irwin mentioned that when he hands out a questionnaire at the beginning of each semester he finds that students are more reluctant to share what their favorite tv shows, movies and music. The answers were vague and consisted of things such as “anything,” “anything but…,” and “I don’t watch tv,”
“Making an off hand remark about what I like would then open up a conversation,” Irwin said.
“I thought it was interesting how Irwin brought traditional philosophical ideas into pop culture,” sophomore international business major Kevin Blake said.
The event was held in the library basement lounge and participants sat at a table with Irwin. Everyone was on an equal playing field. Irwin facilitated the discussion but it was the students and professors who attended the event that ended up doing most of the talking.
