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Tragedy as Farce: The New Model Moral Dilemmas of FOX''s 24
Unformatted Document Text:  Tragedy as Farce: The New Model Moral Dilemmas of FOX’s 24 John M. Parrish Loyola Marymount University DRAFT VERSION: Please do not quote or cite without permission Most studies in the now-growing field of “philosophy and popular culture” follow a familiar pattern: they employ a popular text (novel, play, film, or television program) as a means of illustrating an important philosophical truth. This essay differs from that pattern in at least one important respect: it employs a prominent and influential popular text (FOX’s television drama 24) to describe and then critique an important philosophical falsehood. My premise is that this critical engagement with popular culture can be just as valuable as the more interpretive approach, and that in many cases it may indeed be more significant, since the impact of letting philosophical mistakes go unchallenged in our culture may well prove to be more consequential than any effect we could hope for positive philosophical truths to produce. One of the most important concepts in the field of political ethics is the idea of a moral dilemma – understood as a situation in which an agent’s public responsibilities and moral imperatives conflict in such a way that no matter what the agent does she will in some way be committing a moral wrong. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the

Authors: Parrish, John.
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Tragedy as Farce:
The New Model
Moral Dilemmas
of FOX’s 24
John M. Parrish
Loyola Marymount University
DRAFT VERSION:
Please do not quote or cite without permission
Most studies in the now-growing field of “philosophy and popular culture” follow
a familiar pattern: they employ a popular text (novel, play, film, or television program) as
a means of illustrating an important philosophical truth. This essay differs from that
pattern in at least one important respect: it employs a prominent and influential popular
text (FOX’s television drama 24) to describe and then critique an important philosophical
falsehood. My premise is that this critical engagement with popular culture can be just as
valuable as the more interpretive approach, and that in many cases it may indeed be more
significant, since the impact of letting philosophical mistakes go unchallenged in our
culture may well prove to be more consequential than any effect we could hope for
positive philosophical truths to produce.
One of the most important concepts in the field of political ethics is the idea of a
moral dilemma – understood as a situation in which an agent’s public responsibilities and
moral imperatives conflict in such a way that no matter what the agent does she will in
some way be committing a moral wrong. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the


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