Mad Men and Philosophy: Nothing Is as It Seems
A look at the philosophical underpinnings of the hit TV show, Mad Men\ With its swirling cigarette smoke, martini lunches, skinny ties, and tight pencil skirts, Mad Men is unquestionably one of the most stylish, sexy, and irresistible shows on television. But the series becomes even more absorbing once you dig deeper into its portrayal of the changing social and political mores of 1960s America and explore the philosophical complexities of its key characters and themes. From Socrates, Plato,...
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Is Don Draper a good man? What do Peggy, Betty, and Joan teach us about gender equality? What are the ethics of advertising—or is that a contradiction in terms? Is Roger Sterling an existential hero? We're better people than we were in the sixties, right? With its swirling cigarette smoke, martini lunches, skinny ties, and tight pencil skirts, Mad Men is unquestionably one of the most stylish, sexy, and irresistible shows on television. But the series becomes even more absorbing once you dig deeper into its portrayal of the changing social and political mores of 1960s America and explore the philosophical complexities of its key characters and themes. From Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to John Kenneth Galbraith, Milton Friedman, and Ayn Rand, Mad Men and Philosophy brings the thinking of some of history's most powerful minds to bear on the world of Don Draper and the Sterling Cooper ad agency. You'll gain insights into a host of compelling Mad Men questions and issues, including happiness, freedom, authenticity, feminism, Don Draper's identity, and more—and have lots to talk about the next time you find yourself around the water cooler.
Acknowledgments: "I Think We Need to Salute That!" ixIntroduction: "A Thing Like That" 1Part 1 "People May See Things Differently, But They Don't Really Want to": Mad Men and Problems of Knowledge and Freedom1 What Fools We Were: Mad Men, Hindsight, and Justification Landon W. Schurtz 52 "People Want to Be Told What to Do So Badly That They'll Listen to Anyone": Mimetic Madness at Sterling Cooper George A. Dunn 203 Capitalism and Freedom in the Affluent Society Kevin Guilfoy 34Part 2 "There is no Big Lie, There is no System, the Universe is Indifferent": Mad Men and the Problem of Meaning4 Pete, Peggy, Don, and the Dialectic of Remembering and Forgetting John Fritz 535 The Existential Void of Roger Sterling Raymond Angelo Belliotti 666 Egoless Egoists: The Second-Hand Lives of Mad Men Robert White 797 An Existential Look at Mad Men: Don Draper, Advertising, and the Promise of Happiness Ada S. Jaarsma 95Part 3 "And you know what Happiness is?": Mad Men and Ethics8 "In on It": Honesty, Respect, and the Ethics of Advertising Andreja Novakovic Tyler Whitney 1139 Creating the Need for the New: "It's Not the Wheel. It's the Carousel." George Teschner Gabrielle Teschner 12610 "You're Looking in the Wrong Direction": Mad Men and the Ethics of Advertising Adam Barkman 14111 Is Don Draper a Good Man? Andrew Terjesen 15412 Don Draper, on How to Make Oneself (Whole Again) John Elia 168Part 4 "No One Else is Saying the Right thing About this": Mad Men and Social Philosophy13 "And Nobody Understands That, but You Do": The Aristotelian Ideal of Friendship among the Mad Men (and Women) Abigail E. Myers 18914 Mad Women: Aristotle, Second-Wave Feminism, and the Women of Mad Men Ashley Jihee Barkman 20315 "We've Got Bigger Problems to Worry about Than TV, Okay?" Mad Men and Race Rod Carveth 21716 "New York City Is a Marvelous Machine": Mad Men and the Power of Social Convention James B. South 228Appendix: It's Not a List of Titles and Air Dates; It's an Episode Guide 243Contributors: Some Real Mad Men and Women 247Index: Client Files Lifted from Sterling Cooper 253
