Mad Men and Philosophy

Adam Barkman is an assistant professor of philosophy at Redeemer University College, Ontario. He is the author of C. S. Lewis and Philosophy as a Way of Life and Through Common Things. He is the coeditor of Manga and Philosophy and has written more than ten articles in philosophy and popular culture books. Besides the men routinely imbibing Scotch in the A.M., Adam’s most striking memory of Mad Men is giving his son, Tristan, his bottle while adding the lyrics “Daddy, Daddy, feed me, feed me” to the beat of the theme song.

Ashley Jihee Barkman is a lecturer in English at Yonsei University, Seoul. She holds two M.A.s (in English and Theology) from the University of Toronto and lives far from Ossining with her husband and two small children. After going home, taking a paper bag, cutting some eyeholes out of it, putting it over her head, getting undressed, looking at herself in the mirror, and really evaluating where her strengths and weaknesses are, Ashley decided to write a few articles instead. She has contributed to Manga and Philosophy and 30 Rock and Philosophy.

Raymond Angelo Belliotti is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia and the author of ten books. He steals snappy one-liners from Roger Sterling and spews them at unsuspecting colleagues and students.

Rod Carveth is an assistant professor in the Department of Communications Media at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. The author of more than forty journal articles and book chapters, Rod is also coeditor of Media Economics: Theory and Practice. Rod sees himself as a composite of the principal characters in Mad Men—the ego of Don Draper, the white hair of Roger Sterling, and the rotundity of Bertram Cooper.

George A. Dunn is a jet-setting philosopher who teaches at the University of Indianapolis, Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, and the Ningbo Institute of Technology in China. He is an editor of True Blood and Philosophy and a contributor to several other volumes in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series. No longer a smoker, he has had to seek other outlets for his “death wish,” such as flying American Airlines. An avid music lover, he hopes to be reincarnated as Joan Holloway’s accordion.

John Elia is the Therese Murray Goodwin ’49 chair and assistant professor in philosophy at Wilson College, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. His primary areas of research include ethics and political philosophy. He has also contributed to The Office and Philosophy. John’s thinking about Mad Men was inspired as much by his love of rye whiskey, vintage threads, and mid-century furniture as by his love of wisdom.

John Fritz is a Ph.D. candidate at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he teaches and studies ancient and contemporary philosophy. He wishes he had Don Draper’s charm for his upcoming comprehensive examinations, where he suspects that his inability to remember anything of importance will prove disastrous, despite speaking well of his psychic health. He watches Mad Men when he should be studying, and tries to emulate Peggy Olson in his daily life.

Kevin Guilfoy has been a fan of advertising ever since he learned as a child that happiness and popularity could be bought at the toy store. Many of his fondest childhood memories involve public tantrums begging his parents for “just this one new toy.” Most of his youth was spent accumulating debt. He is currently an assistant professor of philosophy at Carroll University in Wisconsin, but he knows that true happiness can be achieved if he buys a big-screen TV in time for the new season of Mad Men.

Ada S. Jaarsma is an assistant professor of philosophy at Sonoma State University in California. Her research interests include continental philosophy, feminist philosophy, existentialism, and the philosophy of culture. Like Don Draper, she is beginning to realize that the powers of Madison Avenue extend into the realms of desire, domesticity, and daydreams. She can’t help but wonder: If Draper were operating his magic today, what inventive pitch would he make to attract new philosophy majors?

Abigail E. Myers earned her B.A. in English and philosophy from King’s College and her M.S.Ed. in adolescent education from St. John’s University. She is also the author of “U2, Feminism, and the Ethic of Care” (with Jennifer McClinton-Temple) in U2 and Philosophy and “Edward Cullen, Bella Swan: Byronic Hero and Feminist Heroine. Or Not” in Twilight and Philosophy. Abigail has started taking Facebook quizzes seriously ever since the Mad Men quiz informed her that she was a Joan.

Andreja Novakovic and Betty Draper used to dance around the “mayhole ” in white dresses every spring and chant “Anassa kata kalo kale ia ia ia Nike!” in unison. But since graduating from Bryn Mawr, they have gone their separate ways. While Betty went on to become a woman of leisure, Andreja is still a Ph.D. student in philosophy at Columbia University in New York City, writing her dissertation on G. W. F. Hegel and spending far too much time analyzing Mad Men.

Landon W. Schurtz has never worked in advertising, but he does occasionally enjoy vodka martinis. He received his B.A. in English from Tennessee State University and is currently a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Oklahoma. A lifelong lover of bowling, cars with fins, and Formica-and-chrome furniture, he feels that Mad Men is the television show he never knew he couldn’t live without.

James B. South is an associate professor of philosophy, and chair of the department, at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He publishes essays on late medieval and Renaissance philosophy when he’s not writing about popular culture. He edited Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy and coedited (with Jacob Held) James Bond and Philosophy. James wants things he hasn’t seen—where’s that Hilton Hotel on the moon?

Andrew Terjesen is currently a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He has previously taught at Washington and Lee University, Austin College, and Duke University. His philosophical interests center around business ethics and moral psychology. He has written essays exploring these topics for other volumes in the Philosophy and Pop Culture series, including The Office and Philosophy, Twilight and Philosophy, and Iron Man and Philosophy. According to his wife, Andrew is totally lamer than Don Draper—but then again, aren’t we all.

Gabrielle Teschner is an artist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her M.F.A. in sculpture from the California College of the Arts, where she was fascinated by the combined power of language and image. She has work in the permanent collection of the De Young Museum, and her Draperian tendencies were evident in a solo showing of her work titled “Everything You Think Is True.” She coauthored a chapter of this book with her father, a philosopher with whom she has a long-standing door-slamming wrangle over whether art follows copy or copy follows art.

George Teschner is a professor at Christopher Newport University in Virginia, where he regularly teaches courses in contemporary philosophy, comparative philosophy, and philosophy in popular culture. He did his graduate work in New York City at the time when Mad Men takes place and resonates with its values and characters. He had the choice of advertising or teaching philosophy and has come to believe there is little difference between the two.

Robert White is an assistant professor of philosophy and ethics at the American University in Bulgaria. He teaches a course on business ethics in which he uses Mad Men to illustrate how social conformity and a lack of intellectual independence sustain unethical conduct, such as racism and sexism. He previously taught at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where he earned his Ph.D. Unlike Don Draper, White is a productive and rational man and, in the end, completely self-interested.

Tyler Whitney studies German literature and media history at Columbia University in New York City. He agrees with Joan Harris and Marshall McLuhan that the medium is indeed the message. If the academic job market does not improve in the near future, Tyler would consider working with Harry Crane in the television department at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.