Monday, September 20, early afternoon: I am writing this article BEFORE watching the premiere episode of season seven of the popular Fox television series House. The episode is called “Now What?” As usual, the writers have hit upon an excellent title, for that is precisely the question riding on the tongue tips of House fans everywhere.

At the end of season five, Dr. Gregory House — the brilliant diagnostician we either love or hate (I don’t think anyone is on the fence here) — was being led into a loony bin. We saw in season six how he worked his way out of that gnarly situation. At the end of last season, we saw House seemingly “hooking up” romantically — at long last (we knew this was coming) — with Dr.

Lisa Cuddy, his boss. Any of us who have watched the show for six years might well agree that this may be an even gnarlier psychologically pickle he’s getting himself into. And try to imagine what’s in the works for Cuddy! Can two such flawed and fractured people possibly make a viable couple? The inquiry leads to further philosophical conundrums.

Is love an “emotion” or a “state of the will”? Is erotic love “moral”? These queries and many more are raised in a curious little volume titled House and Philosophy, one of a series of books containing essays that attempt to explicate complicated philosophical concepts by using icons of popular culture as teaching tools. For years I have been saying what a great show House is, and after reading that book, I am convinced more than ever of the show’s worth. The authors brilliantly illustrate how my favorite TV show provides examples of what all the great philosophers from Socrates to Sartre have been going on about for centuries: issues regarding ethics, morality, authority, reason vs. irrationality, etc. Few other narrative television programs give us this much great stuff to thing about.

So I am counting the minutes until eight o’clock rolls around and the new House appears on my TV screen. In my next article, I will give you my thoughts about “Now What?” I trust that I won’t be disappointed.