Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective

Popular Culture and Philosophy #46

by D.E. Wittkower

Mr. Monk and Philosophy is a carefully and neatly organized collection of eighteen chapters divided into exactly six groups of precisely three chapters each. Drawing on a wide range of philosophers-from Aristotle and Diogenes, to Siddhartha Gautama and St. Thomas Aquinas, to David Hume and Karl Popper-the authors ask how Adrian Monk solves his cases, why he is the way he is, how he thinks, and what we can learn from him. Some of the authors suggest Monk is a kind of tragic hero, whose flaws help us live out and expunge the fear and anxiety we all experience; that he is more than just his personality or memories, but something more individual and indefinable; and that his most distinctive traits are not the traits that make him a detective, but those that make him a friend. His most notable trait is the dedication he shows to his late wife, Trudy.Other authors explore how Monk encounters the world, arguing that his genius comes not from logic or reasoning, but from his ability to see his surroundings in a pre-conceptualized way; that there isn’t as much distance between his rational beliefs about crimes and evidence and his irrational phobic beliefs as there might seem; and that his phobias have themselves made him approach himself and the world as something to be overcome.Just how does Mr. Monk come to his conclusions? Does he use inductive, deductive, or abductive reasoning? Is he dependent on a false notion of the law of noncontradiction? Is it possible that his reasoning might have more to do with constructing harmonious stories than it does with evidence, causes, or insights?Some contributors ponder Monk's name and what it means given his views on religion. Some authors argue that Mr. Monk's approach to the world is fundamentally similar to that of medieval monastic orders; that his rituals and deductive ‘dancing’ show how he exhibits a kind of shamanism; and that he acts in accordance with the Bodhisattva ideal, bringing others to enlightenment through circumstances and by accident, even though he has no such intention or goal.In one chapter, the author asks how the character Monk is related to other similar characters, arguing that Monk and House are closely related characters, each based on the conflict between reason and emotion which exemplifies the motif of the “troubled genius;” that Monk and House both pursue ethical practices and goals even as they fail at the everyday face-to-face ethics of normal social interactions; and that great detectives all, through their flaws, help us to understand and forgive ourselves for our flaws.And finally, there are several chapters in which the authors consider Monk from the psychologist’s perspective, discussing how Monk’s relationship with Trudy, while having unhealthy codependent elements, demonstrates some important aspects of successful romantic partnerships; how laughter plays a difficult role in mental illness, and the difficult position that the show and therapists are placed in when having to treat seriously disorders that are both tragic and comic; and how, from a psychoanalytic perspective, Monk’s inability to mourn shows us why we both reject and are drawn towards death.In the words of author D. E. Wittkower, "In order to be sure that the reader is able to enjoy the book, every chapter will have an even number of words. You’ll thank me later."

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

286 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

D.E. Wittkower received a Ph.D in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University in 2006. His training concentrated on German philosophy and the history of value theory (ethics, aesthetics, social/political philosophy), and his research has concentrated primarily on issues of ethics, technology, and political philosophy. Prior to accepting the position of Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Old Dominion University, he taught at Coastal Carolina University, Sweet Briar College, Virginia Tech, University of Missouri - St. Louis, and University of Maine - Orono.

He is contributing editor of Facebook and Philosophy (Open Court, in press), Mr. Monk and Philosophy (Open Court, 2010), and iPod and Philosophy (Open Court, 2008); contributor to Applying Care Ethics to Business (Springer, forthcoming 2011), Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies (Routledge, forthcoming 2011), Encyclopedia of Social Networking (SAGE, forthcoming 2010), Putting Knowledge to Work and Letting Information Play (Center for Digital Discourse and Culture, forthcoming 2010), The Psychology of Facebook (Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, forthcoming 2010), Anime and Philosophy (Open Court, 2010), Ethical Issues in E-Business (IGI Global, 2010), and Radiohead and Philosophy (Open Court, 2009); and author of articles appearing in Social Identities and Fast Capitalism.

Reviews

[Hina Ansari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pop culture and philosophy books are usually my go-to book when I need to read something that makes me think and entertains me. It is a guarantee. Even if I’m not a huge fan of the genre, I still find compelling arguments to be found. The books are comprised of philosophy teachers/professors, in theory, fans of the genre as well. In this book, Mr. Monk and Philosophy, I’m not sure that was the case. I’ve never read a more poorly edited book in the history of the series, and this is close to my 20th book of the series. This one was not edited by long-time editor William Irwin, but someone named DE Wittkower. I think Wittkower could have taken another stab at finding better contributions to this compilation.

I had debated really making a mockery of this book, but if nothing else, if anyone reads this review, at least they will be prepared for the slapdash manner the book was written in and lower their expectations accordingly. There were grammatical errors in all but three of the eighteen essays in the book. Two of the essays I didn’t even read, so the number could be one of eighteen. That alone made it impossible to take the concepts seriously. In one entire section, the authors talked more about the TV show House than they did Monk, citing the similarities between both protagonists. I fully expect that the same essays were recycled into that compilation. There was an entire essay written as a script between fictional versions of the fictional characters. I couldn’t read more than a page of it before putting the book down.

I keep all of the copies of Pop Culture and Philosophy but this is one edition I will gladly discard. There is a certain quality that I expect from the series. Even after reading the Twilight and Philosophy book I was able to take positives away. This book wasn’t about philosophy. There was an essay about Library science mixed in, and that was the one without any grammatical errors. A simple proofread would catch the instances where the authors use ‘my’ instead of ‘by’ or use incomplete sentences or missing verbs. It was embarrassing. Monk deserved better and the fans did too.

[Margot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Monk. And I love Julie Kane's chapter "Mr. Monk Goes to the Library." Monk would indeed make a great cataloger.

[Joy]

"It's a jungle out there" and I miss Monk! This should be a great book for Monk fans!

[lingga ambarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

lemayanlah

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m a huge Monk fan, so when I saw this in my library’s ebook catalogue, I had to check it out.

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t at all what I was expecting it to be. It’s a collection of little essays from many different authors, but only a few of them held my attention. I freely admit that I skimmed any of the pages that weren’t directly about Monk, of which there were many. (There was also a lot of talk about the show “House” which I’ve never watched, so I skipped all of those too.)

There were some interesting points made here, but they were few and far between. Some of the essays just rambled on with no real point, some barely even mentioned Monk at all, and some got their facts wrong about the episode they were talking about. I also didn’t agree with some of the points made about Monk, and there were a few opinions on Stottlemeyer and Randy that I also didn’t agree with.

Maybe if I had more interest in the subject of philosophy in general this would have been better. However, for a book that makes you think you’re going to be exploring the world of Monk, this is a huge let-down.