Description
Book SynopsisEnlightenment from the South Park gang faster than you can say, "Screw you guys, I'm going home"! The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy: Respect My Philosophah! presents a compilation of serious philosophical reflections on the twisted insights voiced by characters in TV s most irreverent animated series.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: “Well, I’m Afraid It’s About to Happen Again” 1
Robert Arp and Kevin S. Decker
Part I Doing Philosophical Things with South Park 5
1 Flatulence and Philosophy: A Lot of Hot Air, or the Corruption of Youth? 7
Willie Young
2 You Know, I Learned Something Today: Stan Marsh and the Ethics of Belief 19
Henry Jacoby
3 “Imaginationland,” Terrorism, and the Difference Between Real and Imaginary 29
Christopher C. Kirby
4 Dude, Listen to Reason! Logic Lessons Inside and Outside South Park 41
Robert Arp
Part II South Park and … Religion 53
5 Science, Religion, South Park, and God 55
David Kyle Johnson
6 “Your Magic Is No Match for Our Powers Combined!”—Religious Pluralism and the Search for Truth 71
Jeffrey Dueck
7 Cartmanland and the Problem of Evil 83
David Kyle Johnson
Part III South Park versus … Religion 95
8 “Respect My Religiositah!”—South Park and Blasphemy 97
David Koepsell
9 Mary’s Menses and Morality: Blasphemy in South Park 108
Kevin J. Murtagh
10 South Park, The Book of Mormon, and How Religious Fundamentalists Always Find a Way to Be Naive and Arrogant at the Same Time 119
Roberto Sirvent and Neil Baker
Part IV Respecting My Authoritah! in South Park 131
11 Juvenile Hijinks With Serious Subtext: Dissent and Democracy in South Park 133
David Valleau Curtis and Gerald J. Erion
12 Of Marx and Mantequilla: Labor and Immigration in “The Last of the Meheecans” 143
Jeffrey Ewing
13 “Vote or Die, Bitch”—Does Every Vote Count in a Two-Party System? 153
John Scott Gray
14 Socioeconomic Darwinism from a South Park Perspective 164
Dale Jacquette
Part V Liber-arianism in South Park 175
15 Cartman Shrugged: South Park and Libertarian Philosophy 177
Paul A. Cantor
16 Sitting Downtown at Kentucky Fried Chicken: One Toke Over the Line 194
Kevin S. Decker
17 Cat Urine, Medicinal Fried Chicken, and Smoking: South Park’s Anti-Paternalistic Libertarianism 208
Shane D. Courtland
Part VI There’s a Time and a Place for Everything, Children 221
18 You (Still) Can’t Get Married, You’re Faggots: Mrs. Garrison and the Gay Marriage Debate 223
Jacob M. Held
19 Cute and Cuddly Animals versus Yummy Animals 236
Cynthia Jones
20 Aesthetic Value, Ethos, and Phil Collins: The Power of Music in South Park 247
Per F. Broman
Contributors 260
Index 265
