Description
Book SynopsisInvestigating the trail of philosophical leads in HBO's chilling True Detective series, an elite team of philosophers examine far-reaching riddles including human pessimism, Rust's anti-natalism, the problem of evil, and the flat circle'.
- The first book dedicated to exploring the far-reaching philosophical questions behind the darkly complex and Emmy-nominated HBO True Detective series
- Explores in a fun but insightful way the rich philosophical and existential experiences that arise from this gripping show
- Gives new perspectives on the characters in the series, its storylines, and its themes by investigating core questions such as: Why Life Rather Than Death? Cosmic Horror and Hopeful Pessimism, the Illusion of Self, Noir, Tragedy, Philosopher-Detectives, and much, much more
- Draws together an elite team of philosophers to shine new light on why this genre-expanding show has inspired such a fervently questioning fan-base
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Welcome to the Psychosphere ix
Jacob Graham and Tom Sparrow
Part I “It’s All One Ghetto, Man … a Giant Gutter in Outer Space”: Pessimism and Anti-natalism 1
1 Why Life Rather than Death? Answers from Rustin Cohle and Arthur Schopenhauer 3
Sandra Shapshay
2 Grounding Carcosa: Cosmic Horror and Philosophical Pessimism in True Detective 11
Christopher Mountenay
3 Hart and Cohle: The Hopeful Pessimism of True Detective 22
Joshua Foa Dienstag
4 Loving Rust’s Pessimism: Rationalism and Emotion in True Detective 31
Rick Elmore
5 Rust’s Anti-natalism: The Moral Imperative to “Opt Out of a Raw Deal” 42
Chris Byron
Part II “we Get the World We Deserve”: Cruelty, Violence, Evil, and Justice 53
6 Where Is the Cruelty in True Detective? 55
G. Randolph Mayes
7 Nevermind: Subjective and Objective Violence in Vinci 65
Luke Howie
8 Naturalism, Evil, and the Moral Monster: The Evil Person in True Detective 76
Peter Brian Barry
9 “But I Do Have a Sense of Justice”: Law and Justice in the Bleak World of Vinci 87
Beau Mullen
Part III “everybody’s Nobody”: Consciousness, Existence, and Identity 97
10 A Dream Inside a Locked Room: The Illusion of Self 99
Evan Thompson
11 I Am Not Who I Used to Be, But Am I Me? Personal Identity and the Narrative of Rust 108
Andrew M. Winters
12 “The Light Is Winning” 120
Sarah K. Donovan
13 The Tragic Misstep: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Last Midnight 132
Daniel P. Malloy
Part IV “this Is My Least Favorite Life”: Noir, Tragedy, and Philosopher-detectives 143
14 The Tragedy of True Detective Season Two: Living Our “Least Favorite Lives” 145
Alison Horbury
15 The Noir Detective and the City 158
Chuck Ward
16 Cohle and Oedipus: The Return of the Noir Hero 169
Daniel Tutt
Part V “Time Is a Flat Circle”: Time in True Detective 177
17 Time Is a Flat Circle: Nietzsche’s Concept of Eternal Recurrence 179
Lawrence J. Hatab
18 Eternal Recurrence and the Philosophy of the “Flat Circle” 186
Paul A. DiGeorgio
Known Associates 196
Index 201
