South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today

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