Arrested Development and Philosophy

KRISTOPHER G. PHILLIPS is a PhD candidate (ABD) in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Iowa.J. JEREMY WISNEWSKI is an associate professor of philosophy at Hartwick College. He is the editor of Family Guy and Philosophy, The Office and Philosophy, and 30 Rock and Philosophy, and coeditor of X-Men and Philosophy and Twilight and Philosophy. WILLIAM IRWIN is a 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 House and Philosophy, Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy, and Mad Men and Philosophy. To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.com

• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: And Now a Few Words from the New CEOs of the Bluth Company ix INTRODUCTION 1Kristopher PhillipsPART ONE FAMILY FIRST1 Is the Examined Life a Huge Mistake?: Happiness, Self-Knowledge, and the Bluths 7Jason Southworth and Ruth Tallman2 Kissing Cousins: Incest, Naturalism, and the Yuck Factor 23Deborah R. Barnbaum3 Freudian Arrested Development 33Tim Jung4 Don't Know Thyself: Gob and the Wisdom of Bad Faith 46Daniel P. MalloyPART TWO A BUSINESS MODEL5 Dr. Fünke's 100 Percent Natural Good-Time Alienation Solution 61Jeff Ewing6 Family First: How Not to Run a Business 73Brett Gaul7 Bourgeois Bluths: Arrested Development and Class Status 85Rachel McKinneyPART THREE SOME HUGE MISTAKES8 What Whitey Isn't Ready to Hear: Social Identity in Arrested Development 99J. Jeremy Wisnewski9 "I Just Blue Myself": The Use and Abuse of Language in Arrested Development 111M. E. Verrochi10 To Bias Tobias: Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Arrested Development 123Darci Doll11 I'm Oscar.com: The Problem(s) of Personal Identity in Arrested Development 136Kristopher PhillipsPART FOUR THE ONE WHERE THEY DO EPISTEMOLOGY12 You Can't Do Magic: Gob Bluth and the Illusionists' Craft 151Michael Cholbi13 Is Justified True Bluth Belief Knowledge? 162Brett Coppenger and Kristopher Phillips14 Bunkers and Balls: Arrested Development, Underdetermination, and the Theory-ladenness of Observation 172Michael Da SilvaPART FIVE SOLID AS IRAQ: POLITICS AND ETHICS ARRESTED15 No Touching! George Sr.'s Brush with Treason 185Douglas Paletta and Paul Franco16 "I've Made a Huge Mistake": George Oscar Bluth Jr. and the Role of Error in Character Development 197Christopher C. Kirby, Jonathan Hillard, and Mathew Holmes17 The Comedy of Contradiction 210Erin Fay and Willie YoungPARTS IX: AND ON THE EPILOGUE . . .18 And Now the Story of a Wealthy Family Who Lost Everything: Arrested Development, Narrative, and How We Find Meaning 227Tyler ShoresCONTRIBUTORS: Banana Stand Employee Roster 241INDEX: Banana Stand Inventory 247