The author plumbs the depths of America's favorite animated family for insights into philosophy and society, discussing Aristotle, Marx, Camus, Sartre, and many others A light-hearted introduction to philosophy through the antics of the Simpsons, television's animated family. The contributors discuss the thought of key philosophers including Aristotle, Sartre and Kant, and tackle issues like irony and the meaning of life, and American anti-intellectualism. Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Meditations on Springfield? 1(4) Part I The Characters 5(74) Homer and Aristotle 7(18) Raja Halwani Lisa and American Anti-intellectualism 25(9) Aeon J. Skoble Why Maggie Matters: Sounds of Silence, East and West 34(12) Eric Bronson Marge's Moral Motivation 46(13) Gerald J. Erion Joseph A. Zeccardi Thus Spake Bart: On Nietzsche and the Virtues of Being Bad 59(20) Mark T. Conard Part II Simpsonian Themes 79(66) The Simpsons and Allusion: ``Worst Essay Ever'' 81(12) William Irwin J.R. Lombardo Popular Parody: The Simpsons Meets the Crime Film 93(15) Deborah Knight The Simpsons, Hyper-Irony, and the Meaning of Life 108(18) Carl Matheson Simpsonian Sexual Politics 126(19) Dale E. Snow James J. Snow Part III I Didn't Do It: Ethics and The Simpsons 145(88) The Moral World of the Simpson Family: A Kantian Perspective 147(13) James Lawler The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family 160(19) Paul A. Cantor Springfield Hypocrisy 179(12) Jason Holt Enjoying the so-called ``Iced Cream'': Mr. Burns, Satan, and Happiness 191(11) Daniel Barwick Hey-diddily-ho, Neighboreenos: Ned Flanders and Neighborly Love 202(13) David Vessey The Function of Fiction: The Heuristic Value of Homer 215(18) Jennifer L. McMahon Part IV The Simpsons and the Philosophers 233(50) A (Karl, not Groucho) Marxist in Springfield 235(17) James M. Wallace ``And the Rest Writes Itself'': Roland Barthes Watches The Simpsons 252(17) David L. G. Arnold What Bart Calls Thinking 269(14) Kelly Dean Jolley Episode List 283(7) Based on Ideas By 290(6) Featuring the Voices Of 296(5) Index 301