Friends anyone?

[valkyria]

God I love that show. Joey is just so hilarious and so is the storyline. Especially in the episode where he tries to speak French with Phoebe his friend. Hilarious series!

[Jean-Thomas Renault]

Watching Friends was a guilty pleasure/pastime of mine for a while. I've seen plenty of episodes, but definitely not religiously devoted to the show. If I'm not mistaken, some sociologists considered the show to be one of the reasons for the popularization of the "hook-up culture" which become so prevalent on college campuses in the 90s. Friends was humorous, but in a low-grade sort of way which was only more sophisticated than slap-stick. Mostly, the characters manage to get themselves into awkward sexual situations, some of which involve cheating on each other.

Nevertheless, the show certainly has import for both moral psychology and moral philosophy, although indirectly. That is precisely because of the moral weakness of the show (after all, why would you watch a show where everyone was a saint?) It can be particularly instructive for the viewer to assess the show from the perspective of a critical thinker, outside observing the actions of the moral agents in question. The themes which emerge are quite similar to the themes which emerge in both high and low brow television. For moral psychology, there are moral emotions including shame/honor, regret/anguish. As for moral philosophy, prominent themes in Friends are promise keeping/promise breaking, the demonstration of different types of love (philia, philiautia eros, storge, ludus, pragma,) moral appraisal/moral blame, the one and the other, the one and the many. Some social issues such as abortion, homosexuality, suicide, alcohol are indirectly brought to the attention of the viewer through some of the main characters and side characters. Not the best of shows, but there are a lot of laughs to be had, and, if one is willing to think critically while watching, there are a lot of psychological and philosophical truths to be explored.