“South Park,” Bruce Springsteen and “The Wizard of Oz” all are just some of the topics Randall Auxier uses to explain philosophy in his classes and studies.
Auxier, a professor of philosophy at SIUC, has written close to 30 essays on 20 pop culture topics and said each subject has a different relationship to philosophy.
“Each topic has a different relation to philosophy, but even with the same topic like ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ the pop culture icon has many different forms,” he said.
He said each topic offers several conflicting answers, which is what makes them interesting.
“It is rare for anything belonging to the world of pop culture to be very systematic in exploring a philosophical question, because that would be pretty boring,” he said.
He said philosophers like to clarify, but pop culture needs to retain a sense of mystery to appeal to a wide audience.
“Points occur when something in pop culture leads us to think about big questions like; ‘Would I really want to live forever?’ or ‘Are there some situations where there is no right thing to do?’” he said.
The creators of pop culture often read philosophy and are inspired by some of the thoughts from the readings, he said.
“If you take the ways that such questions have been handled in, say a song by Bruce Springsteen or a movie by the Coen Brothers or a book by George Maguire, and then you begin to sort them out using the critical tools of philosophy, you have the essence of the intersection of pop culture and philosophy,” he said.
Using popular culture has been the best way to communicate his philosophical thoughts, he said.
He said he tries to use stories readers would connect with to illustrate what he has to say.
“He is funny, laid back and has a really good perspective on how things are,” said Corey Barder, a senior from Quincy studying philosophy who had Auxier as a professor.
He said Auxier was his favorite teacher because of how articulate he was and his ability to explain things to students.
“He is really good at comparing and contrasting between cultures and comparing how things work,” Barder said.
Barder said Auxier is good at opening students’ eyes to how things really are in the world.
“A great part of doing good philosophy involves learning to communicate the ideas to different kinds of people,” Auxier said.
Andrea Hahn, university communications public interest specialist, said she enjoyed the way he examined icons in a serious intellectual manner but still was able to have fun with it.
“I like how he explains it, what philosophy classically did is interpret culture and what we can learn from it,” she said.
Auxier said he is working on several essays including one on Led Zeppelin, the Boston Red Sex, “Alice in Wonderland” and vampires.
Chris McGregor can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275
