The Sopranos and Philosophy
Popular Culture and Philosophy Series Editor: George A. Reisch
VOLUME 1Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000)
VOLUME 2The Simpsons and Philosophy: The Doh! of Homer (2001)
VOLUME 3The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002)
VOLUME 4Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003)
VOLUME 5The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (2003)
VOLUME 9Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004)
VOLUME 12Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005)
VOLUME 13Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005)
VOLUME 17Bob Dylan and Philosophy: Its Alright Ma (Im Only Thinking) (2006)
VOLUME 19Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006)
VOLUME 24Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time (2006)
VOLUME 25The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Cant Be Thunk (2006)
VOLUME 26South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007)
VOLUME 28The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight (2007)
VOLUME 29Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy: How to Philosophize with a Pair of Pliers and a Blowtorch (2007)
VOLUME 30Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007)
VOLUME 31Johnny Cash and Philosophy: The Burning Ring of Truth (2008)
VOLUME 32Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy: Darkness on the Edge of Truth (2008)
VOLUME 33Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? (2008)
VOLUME 34iPod and Philosophy: iCon of an ePoch (2008)
VOLUME 35Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008)
VOLUME 36The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008)
VOLUME 37The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West (2008)
VOLUME 38Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive (2009)
VOLUME 39Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life (2009) Edited by Erin McKenna and Scott L. Pratt
VOLUME 40Transformers and Philosophy: More than Meets the Mind (2009) Edited by John R. Shook and Liz Stillwaggon Swan
VOLUME 41Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) (2009) Edited by Aaron Allen Schiller
VOLUME 42Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009) Edited by Ben Dyer
VOLUME 43The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison
VOLUME 44Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed (2009) Edited by Scott Calef
VOLUME 45World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King (2009) Edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger
Volume 46Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
Volume 47Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin
VOLUME 48The Red Sox and Philosophy: Green Monster Meditations (2010) Edited by Michael Macomber
VOLUME 49Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad
VOLUME 50Facebook and Philosophy: Whats on Your Mind? (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
VOLUME 51Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (2010) Edited by Ted Richards
VOLUME 52Manga and Philosophy: Fullmetal Metaphysician (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Adam Barkman
VOLUME 53Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness (2010) Edited by Graham Priest and Damon Young
VOLUME 54The Onion and Philosophy: Fake News Story True, Alleges Indignant Area Professor (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye
VOLUME 55Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka
VOLUME 56Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat (2011) Edited by Jeffery Nicholas
VOLUME 57Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United (2011) Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman
VOLUME 58Dexter and Philosophy: Mind over Spatter (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison-Greene
VOLUME 59Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved (2011) Edited by Luke Cuddy
VOLUME 60SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy: Soaking Up Secrets Under the Sea! (2011) Edited by Joseph J. Foy
VOLUME 61Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind (2011) Edited by Josef Steiff
VOLUME 62Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to Die For (2011) Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein
VOLUME 63Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits? (2011) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
VOLUME 64The Rolling Stones and Philosophy: Its Just a Thought Away (2012) Edited by Luke Dick and George A. Reisch
VOLUME 65Chuck Klosterman and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Seth Vannatta
IN PREPARATION:
Neil Gaiman and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Tracy L. Bealer, Rachel Luria, and Wayne Yuen
Breaking Bad and Philosophy (2012) Edited by David R. Koepsell and Robert Arp
The Walking Dead and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Wayne Yuen
Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Mark Ralkowski
Dungeons and Dragons andPhilosophy (2012) Edited by Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox
The Catcher in the Rye and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Keith Dromm and Heather Salter
Jeopardy! and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Shaun P. Young
Planet of the Apes and Philosophy (2013) Edited by John Huss
Boardwalk Empire and Philosophy (2013) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene
The Wire and Philosophy (2013) Edited by Joanna Crosby, Seth Vannatta, and David Bzdack
For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com.
The Sopranos
and Philosophy
I Kill Therefore I A m
Edited by
RICHARD GREENE
and
PETER VERNEZZE
OPEN COURT
Chicago and La Salle, Illinois
Volume 7 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy
To order books from Open Court, call toll free 1-800-815-2280,
or visit our website at www.opencourtbooks.com.
Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company.
Copyright 2004 by Carus Publishing Company
First printing 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, a division of Carus Publishing Company, 315 Fifth Street, P.O. Box 300, Peru, Illinois, 61354-0300.