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Richard Greene

Peter Vernezze

The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill Therefore I Am (Popular Culture and Philosophy) Paperback – March 16, 2004

by Richard Greene (Editor), Peter Vernezze (Editor), Vincent Pastore (Foreword)

24 ratings

Part of: Popular Culture and Philosophy (125 books)

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This collection of essays by philosophers who are also fans does a deep probe of the Sopranos, analyzing the adventures and personalities of Tony, Carmella, Livia, and the rest of television's most irresistible mafia family for their metaphysical, epistemological, value theory, eastern philosophical, and contemporary postmodern possibilities. No prior philosophical qualificationsor mob connections are required to enjoy these musings, which are presented with the same vibrancy and wit that have made the show such a hit.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Open Court
Publication date

March 16, 2004
Dimensions

6.16 x 0.51 x 8.98 inches
ISBN-10

9780812695588
ISBN-13

978-0812695588
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0812695585
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Court; 1st edition (March 16, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780812695588
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812695588
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.16 x 0.51 x 8.98 inches

Customer Reviews:
24 ratings

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About the authors

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Richard Greene
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I am a Professor of Philosophy at Weber State University, the past Director of the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, and the Director of the Richard Richards Institute for Ethics. I co-host, along with Rachel Robison-Greene, the pop culture and philosophy podcast I Think, Therefore I Fan. I write on popular culture and philosophy (among other topics).
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Peter Vernezze
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A philosophy professor for fifteen years, I recently took a leave of absence to join the Peace Corps and served two years as a volunteer at Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu. During this time I held a philosophical discussion group with my Chinese undergraduates, which serves as the basis for my forthcoming book Socrates in Sichuan: Chinese Students Search for Truth, Justice and the Chinese Way (Potomac Books). The book attempts to bring together my academic experience as a student and teacher of Chinese philosophy and culture with my practical experience as a Peace Corps volunteer. The book is a continuation of my passion for writing about intellectual matters for non-specialists. At present, I am a sojourner in civilized life again.
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Customer reviews

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2 star		11%
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Top reviews from the United States

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YogaPerson

Interesting but not as profound as I'd hoped

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 30, 2007

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The book was fine, I found the articles interesting but some of them were not as thought-provoking as I'd hoped they'd be. I bought it as a gift for a friend and decided to read it first. Some of the chapters just sounded like they were written by academics with too much time on their hands or grad students making a first attempt . . . a lot of analysis without any really profound conclusions that I wouldn't have drawn on my own. The more interesting ones were "Tony Soprano as ethical manager" and "The Sopranos and subjectivist ethics."

6 people found this helpful

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Connecticut bookworm

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 14, 2014

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This volume of essays would have benefitted from much more careful editing. There were numerous spelling errors ("lead" instead of "led," "mantel" instead of "mantle") that would not be caught by SpellCheck, as well as grammatical problems, and, as an earlier reviewer mentioned, a great deal of repetition from one essay to the next. I enjoyed the essays on language, on Dante's Inferno, and on Tony as an Aristotelian tragic hero. The chapter titles were all enticing, but quite a few didn't live up to my expectations, including the one on Carmela as a feminist (too much philosophical jargon to make the content easily understood--at least by me). I loved the TV series, and was hoping to gain more insight into why a show that emphasizes REALLY bad behavior is so appealing. I didn't find much help in this collection.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

yipeokia

Great insightful take on the Sopranos and The Godfather series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 13, 2016

Ok, so my daughter bought me this book as a goof. I am of Italian heritage, and enjoy all of the fun " euphemisms and cultural appetizers " that accompany growing up it an Italian family, and that are reflected, in a fun superficial sort of way, when watching " The Godfather " and
" The Soprano's " series.

Of course, we all recognize that it's kind of like dressing up for Halloween: it's fun, but you realize that reality is real, and that we would feel sorry for anyone who really had to live the life of Tony Soprano. Take for example, how he had to " burn up " his friend Arthur Bucco's restaurant- Vesuvio: his overtone and justification for doing the deed was to prevent his Uncle Junior from killing a rival gangster in the restaurant, but the real reason was that he would have lost a place at which he had many meals that he ate but never paid for.

The book takes this, and many other of Tony's misdeeds and begins to illustrate the difficulty and complexity of maintaining " The mask of Domocles " - how you present one face to others, but know yourself as another- the rubber band must snap, and that's exactly what happens in the first episode where Tony must start therapy with Dr. Melfi.

In my opinion, Richard Greene does an outstanding job in illustrating this point. what started out as a fun read became a joy on many levels for me.
I'm sure it will do the same for many other readers.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Leave the Gun, Take the Philosophy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 18, 2004

I come at this review with two biases. First, I majored in Philosophy in college and never quit reading it. Second, I love the Sopranos. So it's no great surprise that I liked this book. What is a surprise is that I think lots of people will like this book, even if they've never had much of a desire to pursue philosophy.
There's a nice balance of classic philosophy (Tony Soprano as Aristotelean hero), 19th century philosophy (Sopranos as nihilism), eastern philosophy (Tony's use of Sun Tzu to guide him in the business), and modern philosophy (Carmela as feminist). Using a successful television series to demonstrate how philosophy is more than abstract throught and can be used to guide modern actions is a tremendously clever idea.
If you are looking for hard-core philosophy, this is not your book. There's no Hegelian dialectics or heavy language to digest. Instead, this is a fun and easy way to expose yourself to philosophy or refresh yourself on many different schools of thought. The Sopranos is a great backdrop against which the reader can explore the ethics of modern society.

23 people found this helpful

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William R Hall

Blastin' ahead with the Sopranos!!!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 2, 2004

Finally, a great book for a great series. I am a fan of The Sopranos but was unfamiliar with the Open Court Popular Culture and Philosophy series before picking up this volume, so I can't speak to how this book compares to others in the series. But as a Sopranos fan, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and that it added to my appreciation and understanding of my favorite show. To give a few examples, the essays on Sun-Tzu and Machiavelli explained clearly to a non-philosopher who these two figures (both of whom Tony mentions) are and why knowing something about them helps you to understand the motivation of some of the characters on the show. An issue which has long interested me has been whether watching the show can actually be morally harmful, and two of the essays in the book specifically addressed this topic (and put my mind at ease). And the entire ethics section provided an nice overview of this daunting subject and explained its relevance to the series, focusing on such issues as whether the series espouses a relativistic viewpoint (it doesn't), and whether Carmela is a feminist (she's on her way).
The seventeen essays are grouped under five headings: history of philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion. If these topics sound too academic for a show like The Sopranos, don't worry. All but one or two of the essays are written in a style accessible to the general reading public.
The essays provide a good mix of discussion of the first four seasons of the show. The essay on nihilism traces Tony's existential crisis across the first fifty-two episodes. The chapter on how The Sopranos is like a Greek tragedy focuses primarily on season one, whereas the essay on the problem of evil places emphasis on the dominance of that issue in season four. While many of the essays focus on Tony (for obvious reasons), it seems all the major characters are amply covered. Carmela gets an essay devoted entirely to her, and Dr. Melfi is prominently discussed in several essays. Even Charmaine Bucco comes under scrutiny.
The authors love for the show is evident in every essay, and the editors seem to have taken great care to get things right. I checked many of the quotes against my DVD copies of the series and found them dead on accurate. My only complaint is that I would have liked more essays. And though I am glad Open Court decided to put the volume out now, since it has greatly deepened my appreciation for The Sopranos, I hope they put out a revised version once the series ends.

26 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Charlotte Kinson

An interesting read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

Nice to see some books that tackle the philosophy of television; The Sopranos is something a philosopher can really sink their teeth into, and this book certainly demonstrates that. Not much of a light read, but an enjoyable one no less; if you are interested in philosophy in cult television, or are a fan of The Sopranos in general, then you'll most likely find this an enlightening and intriguing read.

One person found this helpful

Darren

In depth book of soprano and what drives them

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 7, 2015

Verified Purchase

Very in depth book, sometimes not the easiest of reads as in wording and meaning but still worth a read, gets u thinking Bout show and characters and how u identify with them and how u can like them even though the crimes they commit

One person found this helpful

Stjepan

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

Useful and interesting collection of essays for the "thinking" Sopranos fans.Paperback quality.

Sarah Dyer

Great gift!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

My brother loved it - great book!

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