Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing | 
 enlarge | Creator: William Irwin
Publisher: Open Court
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy Used: $6.29
You Save: $11.66 (65%)
New (28) Used (36) from $6.29
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 86473
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0812694090
Dewey Decimal Number: 100
EAN: 9780812694093
ASIN: 0812694090
Publication Date: August 20, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Designed for philosophers as well as readers with no particular philosophical background, the essays in this lively book are grouped into four amusing acts. Act One looks at the four Seinfeld characters through a philosophical lens and includes Jerry and Socrates: The Examined Life? Act Two examines historical philosophers from a Seinfeldian standpoint and offers Plato or Nietzsche? Time, Essence, and Eternal Recurrence in Seinfeld. Act Three, Untimely Meditations by the Water Cooler, explores philosophical issues raised by the show, such as, Is it rational for George to do the opposite? And Act Four, Is There Anything Wrong with That?, discusses ethical problems of everyday life using Seinfeld as a basis. Seinfeld and Philosophy also provides a guide to Seinfeld episodes and a chronological list of the philosophers cited in this book.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 Great Read July 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My philosphy proffessor gave us a list of books to choose from so that we could write a paper on it. This was on the list and since I have always been a huge Seinfeld fan I bought it. I thoroghly enjoyed the book. It made me think about the characters more than I ever did watching the show, and it even made me laugh a little once or twice. I highly recommend this book!
 best of these type books April 29, 2006
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
but this is not saying mcuh because the rest are very bad. What each of these books needs are realy thoughtful thinkers who know philosophy, who i n this case know Seinfeld, and who have sense of humor to go with insights. Writers are dull, take themselves too seriously even when they have something okay to say.
 Not Even Close February 4, 2006
16 out of 22 found this review helpful
If you don't know much about Seinfeld or philosophy you might enjoy this book, but if you're a Seinfeld nut then avoid it at all costs. The show is incorrectly quoted several times and "facts" are also made up at times. The summarization of Socrates' allegory of the cave on page nine misstates some pretty major details. I suffered through the book until page 47 when the writer talks about how Kramer and Mickey embrace communism in the episode "The Race." Anyone who has seen that show even once knows that Mickey is trying to talk Kramer out of communism throughout the show. And even though Kramer definitely shows interest in communism it is quite a stretch to say is becomes an "ardent" communist. Rather than being an enjoyable read this book frustrated me enough that i quit on page 51. In all fairness the rest of the book may be excellent, but i'll probably never know.
SEINFELD'S COMEDIC INSPIRATION January 24, 2006
0 out of 12 found this review helpful
Yes, Seinfeld is always funny. Here's what he said about his comedic inspiration: "[Lois Nettleton] was married to Jean Shepherd. He's the guy who invented talk radio and really formed my entire comedic sensibility. Yes. I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." He said this in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on the sitcom's DVD set, sixth season. Who is Jean Shepherd? See the book EXCELSIOR, YOU FATHEAD! THE ART AND ENIGMA OF JEAN SHEPHERD.
One of the worse books ever October 21, 2005
9 out of 28 found this review helpful
Amazingly bad book. As someone who loves Seinfeld and Philosophy, I found this book insulting for both, and espacially for the readers. I tried reading parts of it, and simply couldn't bring myself to finish any chapter. Just a bunch of jiberish from people who apperently don't like, know, or "get" Seinfeld very much.
The straw that got me to finally give up (and write this review) is when I read that Seinfeld was not the first to write a comedy about nothing, and that "Much ado about nothing" is also such a comedy. What, the writer just googled "about nothing" to find something which has a similar title ??? Discusting.
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