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

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

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.