TV-Philosophy in Action

The Ethics and Politics of TV Series

SANDRA

LAUGIER

Wide-ranging short writings on a variety of important TV series from the last 20 years.

Thematically arranged, to show how TV series tackle pressing philosophical issues concerned with democracy, security, gender roles, and ethical values.

Among the many shows covered are Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, The Handmaid's Tale, House of Cards, The Americans, Game of Thrones, The Crown, This Is Us, The Bureau, and For All Mankind.

TV-Philosophy in Action is inspired by philosopher and series-devotee Sandra Laugier’s monthly columns published in the French journal Libération. It is her contribution to the collective reflection on TV series produced by critics, theorists, and the vast mass of individual watchers who evaluate and discuss these programmes every day. The book brings together a selection of articles from Libération, as well as longer pieces, to demonstrate ‘TV-Philosophy in action’: Laugier’s response as a philosopher-viewer to a range of particularly salient TV shows from the last 20 years, and their relationship to social and political issues of our times. Arranged under a number of important themes—relating to politics, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves about our world—the book shows how TV series provide a rich resource for thinking about our lives, and places them centre-stage as works of art, and of thought, in their own right.

PRAISE FOR TV-PHILOSOPHY IN ACTION

Laugier understands that television series do not merely reflect cultural, social, and political change but, like philosophy when it is “in action,” are powerful agents of change that play significant roles in forming, and reforming how we live and how we think.

William Rothman, from his foreword to TV-Philosophy in Action

Biographical Note

Sandra Laugier, a former student at the Ecole normale supérieure and at Harvard University, is Professor of Philosophy at Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. She has also held a number of visiting professorships, including those at Boston University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Max Planck Institute, Berlin. She has published extensively on ordinary language philosophy (Wittgenstein, Austin, Cavell), moral and political philosophy, gender studies and the ethics of care, popular film, and TV series, and is the author of over 30 books in total.

PUBLICATION DATE 27 June 2023

PUBLISHER

University of Exeter Press

FORMAT | ISBN | PRICE Hbk | 9781804130926 | £60.00 | $84.00 eBook available

SIZE

234 x 156 mm

PAGES

226pp

SERIES

TV-Philosophy

BIC SUBJECTS

APT, APFA, HPQ

BISAC SUBJECTS

PER010090, PHI005000, PER004030, PER010000

RIGHTS World