House and Philosophy

HENRY JACOBY teaches philosophy at East Carolina University. He has published articles on the philosophy of mind and contributed to South Park and Philosophy. He lives in Goldsboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kathryn, and their two cats, Bunkai and Willow.WILLIAM IRWIN is a professor of philosophy at King’s College. He originated the philosophy and pop culture gentre of books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles, including Watchmen and Philosophy, House and Philosophy, and Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy.

• Acknowledgments: What? You Want Me to Thank You? ixIntroduction: Read Less, More TV: A Cranky, Slightly Rude Introduction 1Henry JacobyPart One “Humanity Is Overrated”: House on Life1 Selfish, Base Animals Crawling Across the Earth: House and the Meaning of Life 5Henry Jacoby2 House and Sartre: “Hell Is Other People” 17Jennifer L. McMahon3 Is There a Superman in the House?: A Nietzschean Point of View 30David Goldblatt4 House and Moral Luck 39Jane DrydenPart Two “Welcome to the End of the Thought Process:” House’s Logic and Method5 The Logic of Guesswork in Sherlock Holmes and House 55Jerold J. Abrams6 It Explains Everything! 71Barbara Anne Stock7 The Sound of One House Clapping: The Unmannerly Doctor as Zen Rhetorician 84Jeffrey C. Ruff and Jeremy Barris8 “Being Nice Is Overrated”: House and Socrates on the Necessity of Conflict 98Melanie Frappier9 Is There a Daoist in the House? 112Peter VernezzePart Three “It Is the Nature of Medicine That You Are Going to Screw Up”: House And Ethical Principles10 “You Care for Everybody”: Cameron’s Ethics of Care 125Renee Kyle11 To Intubate or Not to Intubate: House’s Principles and Priorities 137Barbara Anne Stock and Teresa Blankmeyer Burke12 House and Medical Paternalism: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” 150Mark R. Wicclair13 If the End Doesn’t Justify the Means, Then What Does? 164Catherine Sartin14 House vs. Tritter: On the Clash of Theoretical and Practical Authority 174Kenneth EhrenbergPart Four “The Drugs Don’t Make Me High, They Make Me Neutral”: Virtues And Character on House15 House and the Virtue of Eccentricity 187John R. Fitzpatrick16 Love: The Only Risk House Can’t Take 198Sara Protasi17 A Prescription for Friendship 209Sara Waller18 Diagnosing Character: A House Divided? 222Heather Battaly and Amy CoplanContributors: Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital Staff 239Index: Index of Differential Diagnoses 247