Robert Arp & Kevin S. Decker 
The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy 
Respect My Philosophah!

Enlightenment 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.

* Offers readers a philosophically smart and candid approach to
one of television’s most subversive and controversial shows
as it enters its 17th season

* Draws sharp parallels between the irreverent nature of South
Park and the inquiring and skeptical approach of Western
philosophy

* Journeys deep beyond the surface of the show’s
scatological humor to address the perennial questions raised in
South Park and the contemporary social and political issues
that inspire each episode

* Utilizes familiar characters and episodes to illustrate such
philosophical topics as moral relativism, freedom of expression,
gay marriage, blasphemy, democracy, feminism, animal ethics,
existential questions, and much more

* It’s a Bigger, Longer & Uncut version of the highly
acclaimed South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned
Something Today–and is guaranteed to be much funnier than
killing Kenny

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: ‚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

Über den Autor

Robert Arp is an analyst working with the U.S.
Government. He has done data modeling work as an ontologist, and
has taught philosophy courses at colleges and universities, too.
His interests include philosophy of biology, ontology in the
information science sense, and philosophy and pop culture.

Kevin S. Decker teaches philosophy at Eastern Washington
University, where he is also an Associate Dean of the College of
Arts, Letters and Education. His research interests are American
pragmatism, Continental philosophy, ethics, philosophy and pop
culture, and social theory.

William Irwin is Professor of Philosophy at King’s
College. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of
books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and
Philosophy and has overseen recent titles including Superman
and Philosophy, Black Sabbath and Philosophy, and
Spider-Man and Philosophy.