Introducing Philosophy Through Pop Culture

1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright Page

4 Notes on Contributors

5 Acknowledgments

6 Sources

7 Introduction

8 Part I: What is Philosophy? 1 Flatulence and Philosophy 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 The Chewbacca Defense If You Do Drugs, Then You're a Hippie Deductions and Inductions The Good, the Bad, and … Well, That's it Really “If Chewbacca Lives on Endor, You Must Acquit” Slippery Slopes “The Defense Rests” 3 Wikiality, Truthiness, and Gut Thinking My Truth (Individual Relativism) Wikiality (Cultural Relativism) Truthiness (Intuitionism) A Right to Your Opinion How to do Philosophy

9 Part II: Epistemology 4 You Know, I Learned Something Today Belief and Evidence Faith, Self‐Interest, and Evidence What's the Harm, Dude? Inquiry, Hard Work, and Progress 5 Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole The Skeptical Dilemma: Cartesian Dreams and Demons Skepticism Within the Matrix How Deep Does the Rabbit Hole Go? Skepticism Outside the Matrix 6 Adama's True Lie “You're Right. There's no Earth. It’s all a Legend” “I'm Not a Cylon! … Maybe, but We Just Can’t Take That Chance” “You Have to Have Something to Live for. Let it be Earth” 7 Wakandan Resources “The Illusions of Division Threaten Our Very Existence” “The Real Question is: What are Those?” “What Can a Nation of Farmers Offer the Rest of the World?” “We Must Right These Wrongs”

10 Part III: Metaphysics 8 Life on a Holodeck Of Humans and Holograms The Holographic Hypothesis Is Reality an App? Can't Tell a Soul Without a Program Who's Playing What? Cogito Ergo Sum? 9 Astral Bodies and Cartesian Souls “Let's Get Physical” – Olivia Newton‐John 1981 “Soul Man” – Sam & Dave 1967 “Miss You” – The Rolling Stones 1978 “Body and Soul” – Billie Holiday 1957 “It's Possible” – Cinderella 1957 “Strange Magic” – Electric Light Orchestra 1975 10 Mind and Body in Zion The Matrix Scenario Mystery and Miracles Mind–Body Dualism Mind–Body Materialism Mental States: Reduction or Elimination? The Role of Matter: Biology or Function? 11 Amnesia, Personal Identity, and the Many Lives of Wolverine What is Personal Identity? Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier, and John Locke Bringing it all Back to Wolverine Jamie Madrox and Derek Parfit Bringing it all Back to Wolverine (Again) Be Slow to Judge 12 The Consolation of Bilbo What Has it Got in its Pocketses? The Problem of Divine Foreknowledge Freedom and the Music Tolkien's Boethian Solution 13 Inception and Free Will Alternate Wills We May Not be Free Compatibilism Frankfurt Counterexamples Should We Worry? 14 Turing's Dream and Searle's Nightmare in Westworld What Does it Mean to Think? Turing Versus Searle Searle, the Chinese Room, and Ford Hosts and Guests: What is the Difference? The Maze: Is it Consciousness ? 15 What is it Like to Be a Host? Your Phone is Not Conscious What is it Like to be a Bat? Philosophical Zombies When Are We? It Does Not Look Like Anything to Me Limit Your Emotional Affect Please Everything Will be What it Isn't I Know Only That I Slept a Long Time, and Then One Day I Awoke Violent Ends 16 The Time Travel in Avengers: Endgame The Grandfather Paradox Branching Time Travel Lewisian Time Travel A Disappointing Ending … … But Not a Disappointing Movie

11 Part IV: Philosophy of Religion 17 South Park , Cartmanland, and the Problem of Evil “And That's it?” The Story of Job The Sweet Milk of Our Tears “You Are Up There!” Free Hat, Free Willzyx, Free Will “Are You There God, It's Me, Jesus” “Go, God, Go” 18 Hidden Mickeys and the Hiddenness of God Emphatic Silence: The Experience of Divine Hiddenness The Argument from Divine Hiddenness When is a Hidden Mickey a Hidden Mickey? The Disanalogy Between Hidden Mickeys and Divine Hiddenness Might God Be Hidden for Love's Sake? 19 The Jedi Knights of Faith “I Can't Kill My Own Father” “Mostly Because of My Father, I Guess” “Something is Out of Place!” “I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing” “I Take Orders from Just One Person: Me” “It's a Trap!” “That's Impossible!” Bringing Balance to the Force

12 Part V: Ethics 20 Why Doesn't Batman Kill the Joker? Meet the Joker Is Batman a Utilitarian or Deontologist? (Or None of the Above?) To the Bat‐Trolley, Professor Thomson! Hush Will Love This Next Story … Top 10 Reasons the Batmobile is Not a Trolley … “I Want My Lawyer! Oh, That's Right, I Killed Him Too” Case Closed – Right? 21 Means, Ends, and the Critique of Pure Superheroes “‘In the End’? Nothing Ends, Adrian, Nothing Ever Ends” The Utilitarians Strike Back “Even in the Face of Armageddon I Shall Not Compromise in This” “Who Watches the Watchmen?” 22 Can Eleanor Really Become a Better Person? ( The Good Place ) Aristotle's Guide to Moral Growth Aristotle's Four Levels of Moral Character Kohlberg's Model of Moral Development Does Character Actually Matter? The Moral of the Story 23 “You're a Sucky, Sucky Friend” “Do You Have Any Books about Making Friends?” “Did You Ever Consider Making Friends by Being … Pleasant?” “Kripke! What'd You Say of the Idea of You and I Becoming Friends?” “To Make Friends … Take an Interest in Their Lives” “That's Insane on the Face of It” “… Promises to Be a Herculean Task” “There is No Algorithm for Making Friends!” 24 “You Are Asking Me to Be Rational” Master of the Stoic Arts Unlimited Power? “Fear is the Path to the Dark Side” “From My Point of View, the Jedi are Evil!” “You Underestimate My Power!”

13 Part VI: Challenges to Traditional Ethics 25 Rediscovering Nietzsche's Übermensch in Superman as a Heroic Ideal Truth, Justice, and the Nietzschean Way Putting the Über into the Übermensch: Creativity and Following the Will to Power The Nietzschean Superman Superman Versus Clark Kent S is for Savior Kneel Before Zod! Perhaps … Lex Luthor? Nietzschean Übermensch, American Christ, or Both? 26 Knowing Who You Are “This Suits You” “But the Voice Inside Sings a Different Song” “That Voice Inside is Who You Are” “Do You Know Who You Are?” “I Am Moana!” 27 Becoming a (Wonder) Woman What is a Woman? The Ambiguously Feminist Superhero 28 The Silence of Our Mother How Can You See, with Jujubes for Eyes? The Gifts of Our Mother The Work of Our Mother Mother Takes Sides 29 “Everything Is Backwards Now” Deep Humanity in an Alien Avatar “Out There is the True World” “Lost in the Woods” “Everything is Backwards Now”

14 Part VII: Social and Political Philosophy 30 Maester Hobbes Goes to King's Landing ( Game of Thrones ) You are Selfish and Dangerous The Realm Needs a King Hobbes Takes the Maester's Chain The Horrors of War Robert's Rebellion Lion and Direwolf, Dragon and Leviathan 31 Lost 's State of Nature Lining up for Peace Human Nature and Natural Humans Amid the Wreckage The Longer Haul Over or Under the Language Barrier Confidence and the Con Men Roles and Rules Tit for Tat Gaining Trust from the Past 32 Federation Trekonomics Capitalism is Most Illogical Dammit, Marx, I'm a communist, not a Communist! Set Phasers to “Revolution” To Boldly Conclude … 33 Superman and Justice It's All About Personal Liberty Truth, Libertarian Justice, and the American Way Great Rawls! Behind the (Lead‐Lined) Veil of Ignorance Occupy Metropolis Superman's Greatest Foe? 34 Cartman Shrugged High Philosophy and Low Comedy Speaking the Unspeakable A Plague on Both Your Houses Defending the Undefendable The Town of South Park Versus Harbucks The Great Gnome Mystery Solved The Wal‐Mart Monster 35 Ninjas, Kobe Bryant, and Yellow Plastic Where's Lando? The Building Bricks of Race Kobe Bryant, Ninjas, and Race Race in The LEGO Movie Postscript, July 2020: Everything is Not Awesome 36 When Tech Meets Tradition Are There Black People in the (Transhumanist) Future? “You Savages Didn't Deserve it!” The Future Must Have Roots and Branches Blackness as a Pathway to the Future 37 Black Mirror and Political Manipulation Our “MASS Implant”: The Language of Dehumanization The Consequences of Our “MASS Implant”: The Violence of Dehumanization The “MASS Implant” Today Rehumanizing the Dehumanized: How to Turn Off Our “MASS Implant” The Future of Our “MASS Implant” 38 Black Mirror and #DeathTo Dangers Benefits With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility