It's Always Sunny and Philosophy: The Gang Gets Analyzed

Popular Culture and Philosophy #91

by Roger Hunt (Editor), Robert Arp (Editor)

Here, philosophers wittily and expertly uncover amazing philosophical insights from the endlessly fascinating TV show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Greg Littmann shows how the values of the gang are the same as those of Homeric heroes. Christopher Ketcham argues that the Church should make Charlie a saint, partly because It’s Always Sunny is “all about free will.” Russ Hamer shows how closely the gang’s activities comply with the scientific method. Kyle Alkema and Adam Barkman analyze the way the gang perceives happiness and how they try to get it. Charlotte Knowles considers whether Heidegger would consider members of the gang authentic or inauthentic - and concludes that they’re a bit of both. Skyler King examines the morality of the gang’s behavior by the standard of how they respond to extreme suffering. Ethan Chambers agrees that each of the five central characters is a terrible person, but argues that they are not truly to blame for their actions. Fenner Tanswell demonstrates that many of the gang’s wrong actions result not from immoral motives but from illogical thinking. And Robert Arp compiles a hilarious list of historical examples where people acted even more foolishly than the Philadelphia Five.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 2015

Reviews

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never thought I'd read something with Its Always Sunny and Philosophy in the title, but it works! Interesting pop culture comparisons using Greek, Roman, Renaissance, Enlightenment, etc sources. I am not a huge fan of the show so I had not seen some of the episodes referenced, if I did I think it would be more like a 4 or even 5 stars. I just picked this up and glad I did. Now I definitely want to binge watch a few episodes before the characters make me hate mankind too much to continue.

[johnny ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

could have been a lot more in depth, especially when it comes to charlie's psychology. i did enjoy this, but it bothered me when they spelled dee (deandra) wrong. i don't feel like these people are real sunny fans, you feel me?

[Mike Levere · Rating 3 out of 5]

This here, is the rest of my ‘and philosophy’ collection. Well… all of these belong to the same official series. I have a few more to post, but they’re from different publishers, so they’re their own thing there.

Anyways, these are the same deal as my previous post for ‘the Simpson’s and philosophy’. They are collections of essays that go into basic philosophical arguments, and concepts; through the lense of various pop culture heavyweights.

If you’re like me, and interested in all that kind of stuff, but not smart enough to keep focused on the source material; these books help a lot. And are a great stepping stone - to looking into all the sources.

Seinfeld and python I’ll give 4/5 brains each. And always sunny, I’ll give 3/5. That one was a little weaker.
So in total, 11 brains.
🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠

[Collin Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfocused which I guess fits considering this is a book examining the erratic and often dangerous behavior of The Gang, but not only is it simply littered with typos, but many chapters are content to just recap the stories of episodes of the show (and more often than not the same episode has been covered in another chapter), and occasionally they’ll preach to the reader.

A couple of the essays are okay, but I didn’t really need a whole chapter that’s Frederick nietzsche recounting “the gang solves the gas crisis” as a conversation between the philosopher and the gang. I’d hardly call this book essential reading, even if you’re a fan of the show.

[Choukri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book

Features interesting bits of knowledge from history, as well as pop-philosophical treatises. The analysis of the Gang’s behavior was funny, though it could be more in-depth.