William Irwin (philosopher)
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William T. Irwin is professor of Philosophy and Director of the Honors Program at King's College, Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was born in 1970 and was raised in Yonkers, New York. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Fordham University in 1992, and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the State University of New York in 1996.
In addition to publishing in leading scholarly journals such as Philosophy and Literature and The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Irwin originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books with Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing in 1999 and then the very popular The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer in 2001. He was editor of these books and then series editor of the Popular Culture and Philosophy Series through Open Court Publishing Company, producing titles such as Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine, Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way, and many others.[1] Carlin Romano from The Chronicle of Higher Education called the Popular Culture and Philosophy Series “the most serious philosophy series on the market, if some link between academic seriousness and real life still exists.” [1]
In 2006, he left Open Court to become the General Editor of The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series [2] through Wiley-Blackwell (publisher). Reuters (now Thomson Reuters) reported that Irwin’s books have sold more than one million copies. [3] South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today was the first in that series, being published in 2006. Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery followed shortly thereafter, and Scott Ian from Anthrax (band) called it “a kick-ass read.” [4] Irwin is quoted in USA Today as claiming that "the books are about smart popular culture for smart fans.” [5]
When Irwin was with Open Court, he edited The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real. Anderson Cooper referred to the Matrix book as an "interesting collection of thoughts on the movie and its place in the world" in an interview with Irwin.[6] Irwin also discussed a follow-up book, More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded, in an interview with Keith Olbermann. [7]