True Detective and Philosophy

Jacob Graham is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Virginia. His research focuses on ancient and modern philosophy, as well the value of philosophy in popular culture. Tom Sparrow is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania. His primary research is in continental philosophy and phenomenology. His recent publications include Plastic Bodies (2015) and The End of Phenomenology (2014). William Irwin (series editor) is Herve A. LeBlanc Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of Philosophy at King's College in Pennsylvania. Irwin originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books with Seinfeld and Philosophy in 1999 and is the General Editor of The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series. He has overseen recent titles including The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy, Wonder Woman and Philosophy, and Alien and Philosophy.

• Introduction: Welcome to the Psychosphere ixJacob Graham and Tom SparrowPart I “It’s All One Ghetto, Man … a Giant Gutter in Outer Space”: Pessimism and Anti-natalism 11 Why Life Rather than Death? Answers from Rustin Cohle and Arthur Schopenhauer 3Sandra Shapshay2 Grounding Carcosa: Cosmic Horror and Philosophical Pessimism in True Detective 11Christopher Mountenay3 Hart and Cohle: The Hopeful Pessimism of True Detective 22Joshua Foa Dienstag4 Loving Rust’s Pessimism: Rationalism and Emotion in True Detective 31Rick Elmore5 Rust’s Anti-natalism: The Moral Imperative to “Opt Out of a Raw Deal” 42Chris ByronPart II “we Get the World We Deserve”: Cruelty, Violence, Evil, and Justice 536 Where Is the Cruelty in True Detective? 55G. Randolph Mayes7 Nevermind: Subjective and Objective Violence in Vinci 65Luke Howie8 Naturalism, Evil, and the Moral Monster: The Evil Person in True Detective 76Peter Brian Barry9 “But I Do Have a Sense of Justice”: Law and Justice in the Bleak World of Vinci 87Beau MullenPart III “everybody’s Nobody”: Consciousness, Existence, and Identity 9710 A Dream Inside a Locked Room: The Illusion of Self 99Evan Thompson11 I Am Not Who I Used to Be, But Am I Me? Personal Identity and the Narrative of Rust 108Andrew M. Winters12 “The Light Is Winning” 120Sarah K. Donovan13 The Tragic Misstep: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Last Midnight 132Daniel P. MalloyPart IV “this Is My Least Favorite Life”: Noir, Tragedy, and Philosopher-detectives 14314 The Tragedy of True Detective Season Two: Living Our “Least Favorite Lives” 145Alison Horbury15 The Noir Detective and the City 158Chuck Ward16 Cohle and Oedipus: The Return of the Noir Hero 169Daniel TuttPart V “Time Is a Flat Circle”: Time in True Detective 17717 Time Is a Flat Circle: Nietzsche’s Concept of Eternal Recurrence 179Lawrence J. Hatab18 Eternal Recurrence and the Philosophy of the “Flat Circle” 186Paul A. DiGeorgioKnown Associates 196Index 201

Select Guide Rating