South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today (The Blackwell Philosophy & Pop Culture Series)

If you think Saddam and Satan make a kinky couple, wait till you get a load of South Park and Philosophy . Get your Big Wheels ready, because we're going for a ride, as 22 philosophers take us down the road to understanding the big-picture issues in this small mountain town. A smart and candid look at one of television's most subversive and controversial shows, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Draws close parallels between the irreverent nature of South Park and the inquiring and skeptical approach of philosophy. Addresses the perennial questions of the show, and the contemporary social and political issues that inspire each episode. Uses familiar characters and episodes to illustrate topics such as moral relativism, freedom of expression, gay marriage, blasphemy, democracy, feminism, animal ethics, existential questions and much more. Makes you laugh out loud. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and a healthy helping of popular culture clears the cobwebs from Kant. Philosophy has had a public relations problem for a few centuries now. This series aims to change that, showing that philosophy is relevant to your life – and not just for answering the big questions like “To be or not to be?” but for answering the little questions: “To watch or not to watch South Park?” Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn’t make you a “dummy” or a “complete idiot.” In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching. Cover Title Contents The Super Best Contributors Sucking Balls and Fucking Off: An Introduction to the Bothersome South Park and Philosophy - Robert Arp Part I: Taking South Park Seriously ... M ’Kay 1. Flatulence and Philosophy: A Lot of Hot Air, or the Corruption of Youth? - William W. Young III The “Danger” of South Park Oh My God! They Killed Socrates! You Bastards! Cartman Gets a Banal Probe Friendship Kicks Ass! The Dialogues of Kyle and Stan An Apology for South Park: Getting in Touch with Your Inner Cartman The Talking Cure for Our Culture 2. Is It Okay to Laugh at South Park ? - Catherine Yu Recall That It Is Cartman’s Ten-Year-Old Hand That Ben Has Sex With After All Child Abduction Is Not Funny, You Dick! What Would Susan Wolf and Aristotle Do (Besides Act Like Goody-Friggin’-Two-Shoes)? If You Think “She Sells Seashells by the Seashore” is Hard, Try To Say Phthonic Humor Ten Times Quickly Laugh Away, All of You Fast-Talking, R-Rolling Taco and Burrito Loving Cholas! 3. Blasphemous Humor in South Park - Kevin J. Murtagh A Chick Bleeding Out Her Vagina is No Miracle What In God’s Name is Blasphemy? Do You Care At All About People’s Feelings? A Utilitarian Perspective Has the Potential to Make People Think You Have to Hit Them with a Sledgehammer A Final Point 4. The Chewbacca Defense: A South Park Logic Lesson - Robert Arp It Does Not Make Sense! Dude, Listen to Reason You’re Not Asleep Yet, Are You? If Chewbacca Lives on Endor, You Must Acquit The Defense Rests Part II: The Fab Four 5. You Know, I Learned Something Today: Stan Marsh and the Ethics of Belief - Henry Jacoby If Evidence is Lacking, So What? Belief and Evidence Faith vs. Reason Prudential Reasons vs. Evidence What’s The Harm, Dude? Inquiry, Hard Work, and Progress 6. Respect My Authorita! Is Cartman “The Law,” and Even If He Is, Why Should We Obey Him? - Mark D. White Get Your Big Wheels Ready Commands, Threats, and Authorita Getting to the “Hart” of the Matter Why Obey the Law at All, Dude? Let’s Ask Another Guy with Three Initials – They’re Smart . . . The Big Question: Law and Morality 7. Oh My God! They Killed Kenny ... Again: Kenny and Existentialism - Karin Fry Kenny’s Existential Crisis The Purposeful Death Who are “The Bastards”? The Absurd Kenny, The Absurd Hero 8. The Philosophical Passion of the Jew: Kyle the Philosopher - William J. Devlin More Than Just the Token Jewish Character The Socratic Method and Ike’s Wee Wee Is God Dead? Cartman’s Money and Kyle’s Hemorrhoid Do You Think Dan Rather is Real? What Have We Learned Today? Part III: The Republic of South Park 9. The Invisible Gnomes and the Invisible Hand: South Park and Libertarian Philosophy - Paul A. Cantor High Philosophy and Low Comedy Speaking the Unspeakable A Plague on Both Your Houses Defending the Undefendable The Town of South Park vs. Harbucks The Great Gnome Mystery Solved 10. South Park and the Open Society: Defending Democracy Through Satire - David Valleau Curtis and Gerald J. Erion Unfettered Intellectual Inquiry or Potty Humor? Karl Popper, the Open Society, and Its Enemies South Park and the “Enemies” Not Tolerating a Tolerance for Intolerance Thomas Jefferson and the Foundations of Modern Democracy Someone in the Middle 11. “Vote or Die, Bitch” – The Myth that Every Vote Counts and the Pitfalls of a Two-Party System - John Scott Gray Douches and Turds, Y’all Yeah, Boy . . . Getting, Keeping, and Using the Right to Vote Gettin’ Schooled at College, Dawg Yo . . . Your Candidate is In the House The C to the H to the O to the I to the C to the E You Wanna Third Party, G? Stability in the Political Ghetto, My Homey Part IV: Ethics: Dude ... Gay Muslims Don’t Eat Veal 12. They Satirized My Prophet ... Those Bastards! South Park and Blasphemy - David R. Koepsell This Is My Faith, And You Shouldn’t Make Fun Of It! Suck My Balls – Is Nothing Sacred? Can’t We all Just Get Along? 2005–2006: Comedy Central Caves Is South Park Responsible for the Decline of Western Civilization? 13. You Can’t Get Married, You’re Faggots: Mrs. Garrison and the Gay Marriage Debate - Jacob M. Held Fags are Gettin’ Married Over My Dead Body My God, Nature, and the Dictionary Say “No!” The Worst Arguments Against Gay Marriage You Think Kids Can Be Raised by Queers? The Argument from Harm and the Slippery Slope They’re Going to Allow Queers and Homos to Get Married, Huh? The Arguments for Gay Marriage Teacher, Our Egg is Fine – Gays Can Get Married Being Butt Buddies Isn’t the Same as Being Married 14. Just Don’t Kill Baby Cows - Cynthia McWilliams Tortured Baby Cows and Vaginitus Kids vs. Adults and Cute Animals vs. Edible Animals The Line Goes Here, Not There! Don’t Worry, You Probably Won’t Turn Into a Giant Pussy 15. Four-Assed Monkeys: Genetics and Gen-Ethics in Small-Town Colorado - Scott Calef Who is Mephisto? South Park or Jurassic Park? This Is Starting To Look Like Something We Shouldn’t Be Any Part Of Genetic Engineering Lets Us Correct God’s Horrible, Horrible Mistakes – Like German People Dude, It’s Hard to Stay Out of This One Part V: Who the Fuck Are You? Whores, Robots, and Bodies 16. Raisins, Whores, and Boys: Gender and Sexuality in South Park - Ellen Miller Playground Feminism The Detached Impartiality of Kant and Mill Girl Power or Objectification: Paris Hilton in South Park The Testaburger Test for Obscenity Can Raisins Cause Harm? When All Is Said And Done, Shouldn’t We Allow Whores To Be Whores? 17. AWESOM-O and the Possibility and Implications of Artificial Intelligence - Randall M. Jensen Can a Machine Have a Mind? Playing the Imitation Game The Chinese Room Does Towelie Have a Mind? No Way! A Machine Just Can’t Do That! Machines Will Take Over the World! 18. Stan’s Future Self and Evil Cartman: Personal Identity in South Park - Shai Biderman Two Peas in a Pod, My Future Self ’n’ Me Evil Cartman, Stan’s Clone, Those Darn Hats, and Cartman Possessed Let’s Get Physical . . . and Psychological Now That’s What I Call a Sticky Situation . . . Although, I’m Still Not Sure What “I” Refers To Hella Psychological Continuity We Know Kenny as The Kid with The Orange Parka and The Dirty Little Mind Part VI: Satan, Suffering, Super Best Friends, and Song 19. Cartmanland and the Problem of Evil - David Kyle Johnson There’s No God, Dude! And That’s It?!? The Story of Job The Sweet Milk of Our Tears You Are Up There! Jesus Christ and John Hick: The Soul Making Theodicy 20. Religious Pluralism and The Super Best Friends - Jeffrey Dueck Let’s Meet The Super Best Friends Pick Any Religion, and Picture It In Your Mind Evaluating Underlying Reasons David Blaine Will Now Eat His Own Head You Gotta Have Faith The Hope of Finding Supernatural Confirmation 21. Aesthetic Value, Ethos, and Phil Collins: The Power of Music in South Park - Per F. Broman Maybe I Can Put It Best in the Words of a Timeless Song Diegesis in South Park Musical Spraying Music to Move Plato’s Soul Phil Collins and Aesthetic Value Schopenhauer and Death The Only Way It Works Is Through Music 22. Satan Lord of Darkness in South Park Cosmology - Dale Jacquette Evil Incartoonate Sympathy for the Devil Little Boy, You’re Going to Hell Respect My Authorita! Satan’s Soft Spot and South Park’s Saint Michael It’s Aboot Not Censoring Our Art! Don’t Take the Devil Seriously Special Surprise Bonus! Screw You Guys ... I’m Going Home: Acknowledgments Chef’s Salty Ball-less index Introduction, Sucking Balls And Fucking Off : An Introduction To The Bothersome South Park And Philosophy / Robert Arp -- Flatulence And Philosophy : A Lot Of Hot Air, Or The Corruption Of Youth? / William W. Young Iii -- Is It Okay To Laugh At South Park? / Catherine Yu -- Blasphemous Humor In South Park / Kevin J. Murtagh -- Chewbacca Defense : A South Park Logic Lesson / Robert Arp -- You Know, I Learned Something Today : Stan Marsh And The Ethics Of Belief / Henry Jacoby -- Respect My Authorita! Is Cartman The Law, And Even If He Is, Why Should We Obey Him? / Mark D. White -- Oh My God! They Killed Kenny ... Again : Kenny And Existentialism / Karin Fry -- Philosophical Passion Of The Jew : Kyle The Philosopher / William J. Devlin -- Invisible Gnomes And The Invisible Hand : South Park And Libertarian Philosophy / Paul A. Cantor -- South Park And The Open Society : Defending Democracy Through Satire / David Valleau Curtis And Gerald J. Erion -- Vote Or Die, Bitch-- The Myth That Every Vote Counts And The Pitfalls Of A Two-party System / John Scott Gray -- They Satirized My Prophet ... Those Bastards! South Park And Blasphemy / David R. Koepsell -- You Can't Get Married, You're Faggots : Mrs. Garrison And The Gay Marriage Debate / Jacob M. Held -- Just Don't Kill Baby Cows / Cynthia Mcwilliams -- Four-assed Monkeys : Genetics And Gen-ethics In Small-town Colorado / Scott Calef -- Raisins, Whores, And Boys : Gender And Sexuality In South Park / Ellen Miller -- Awesom-o And The Possibility And Implications Of Artificial Intelligence / Randall M. Jensen -- Stan's Future Self And Evil Cartman : Personal Identity In South Park / Shai Biderman -- Cartmanland And The Problem Of Evil / David Kyle Johnson -- Religious Pluralism And The Super Best Friends / Jeffrey Dueck -- Aesthetic Value, Ethos, And Phil Collins : The Power Of Music In South Park / Per F. Broman -- Satan Lord Of Darkness In South Park Cosmology / Dale Jacquette. Edited By Robert Arp. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Philosophers present twenty-two essays on the controversial television comedy "South Park" and the political and social issues it explores, discussing such topics as blasphemous humor, the ethics of belief, democracy, the two-party system, gay marriage, vegetarianism, religious pluralism, evil, and personal identity