Rick and Morty and Philosophy: In the Beginning Was the Squanch

Popular Culture and Philosophy #125

by Lester C. Abesamis (Editor), Wayne Yuen (Editor)

The adult-oriented science-fiction cartoon series Rick and Morty , shown on Cartoon Network as part of its late-night Adult Swim feature, is famous for its nihilistic anti-hero Rick Sanchez. Rick is a character who rejects God, religion, and meaning, but who embraces science and technology.

This leads to a popular show that often presents a world view favorable to science and dismissive of spirituality. It is existentialism mashed up with absurdism with a healthy (or unhealthy) dose of dick jokes thrown in. Rick and Morty and Philosophy focuses on the philosophical underpinnings of the show.

The authors explain and develop ideas that are mentioned or illustrated in various episodes, so that fans can get really solid evidence for what they know this show is awesome and deep. Rick has access to technology that allows him to jump between dimensions or realities. He brings his grandson, Morty, along with him on these adventures, often putting Morty in mortal danger. However, Rick’s attitude is that there are an infinite number of Mortys in the multiverse, so if his Morty dies, he can always replace his Morty with another Morty from a different dimension. One question that arises is, are these Mortys really identical to each other? And if one of them dies, can he really be replaced without loss?

Another character in the show is Jerry, the husband of Rick’s daughter. Jerry is a complete and total loser with no self-respect, desperate to get any kind of respect from others. Why is it so important that he has self-respect? How does his lack of self-respect affect those around him? In one adventure, Jerry finds himself in a position where he can save one of the greatest civil rights leaders in the universe whose heart is failing. Jerry can save his life by donating his penis, which is the perfect organ to match the alien’s failing heart. Does Jerry have a moral obligation to do so? Recently, ethicists such as Peter Singer and Julian Savulescu have argued that people have a moral obligation to donate a kidney to people who need one. Why wouldn’t the same apply to Jerry’s penis? Is such a donation above and beyond a moral obligation, and consequently optional, or is it a basic moral obligation and therefore required, as noted ethicists like Singer and Savulescu suggest?

This volume also includes chapters that examine the experience of watching Rick and Morty . One writer argues that many of the Rick and Morty episodes induce within viewers a state of “Socratic aporia,” or confusion. Viewers are forced to reflect on their own moral beliefs about the world when characters do something that seems good but results in horrendous consequences.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published February 5, 2019

Reviews

[M Edi · Rating 5 out of 5]

infinite copies and infinite universe.. loved the show, and loved the ideas behind it ..

[Tamara Wilhite · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched several episodes of the television show to better understand the book “Rick and Morty and Philosophy”. The television show is easily PG-13 for language, violence and sexual situations. I’d rate the book itself PG.
I had a rough idea already of what “Rick and Morty” was because my son periodically watched the TV show. I considered it a cartoon version of Doctor Who, though it isn’t quite as family-friendly. (Examples: one main character burying his mangled alternate dimension self’s body, total freak-outs for realizing they barely survived a situation they had no control over, and cloning Mom to replace the frozen one while the clone goes through an identity crisis.)
When I received “Rick and Morty and Philosophy”, my son was interested in reading the book. He was quite familiar with the ongoing themes and plot lines that were analyzed in the book “Rick and Morty and Philosophy”; he came away with a far better understanding of philosophical terms, the formal structure of paradoxes and thought experiments, and the psychology driving some of the characters.
This book gets at least some extra points for being able to engage a young teen for that long and teaching them rather advanced concepts. Personally, it is a decent philosophy book drawing from a popular TV show but it is hard for me to relate to it because of all the fart jokes, sex jokes and so forth. I give the book four stars, but a “Rick and Morty” fan would likely give it five stars.
Legal Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some thoughtful essays, some excuses for academics to speak with Rick Sanchez's acerbic wit, but really enjoyed the chapters on Intelligent Design, Moral Relativism and the comparisons to Jean Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness existentialism in relation to the multiverse and Nietzsche's Ubermensch theory in describing Rick C-137's place in it

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rick and Morty and Philosophy is mostly comprised of bad writing and shameful editing, but when the authors stick to philosophy it does occasionally provide the interesting perspectives relating to Rick, Morty, Jerry, other characters, and the multiverse I foolishly paid full price for. There are some lovely little bits connecting Nietzsche, Epicurus, Ayn Rand, and Kirkegaarde if you can find them amongst all the awkward cruft.

2.9 Stars

Notes (spoilers)



Chapter 2: 17 - 18) Good explanation for the Brainalyser escape in the Rickshank Rickdemption. “Reprograms the victim’s psychological state to match Rick’s”.
- 23) Rick and Morty argues against numerical identity and what really matters

Chapter 3: On simulations – the author is trying way too hard and is super-awkward-corny. When she sticks to regular speech it is cool though.

Chapter 7: Rick and Morty as Socratic Television – interesting episodic summarization featuring specific examples of philosophical debate relating to Plato’s dialogues, though a tad awkward

Chapter 8: Nietzche and The Vindicators.
- Master vs Slave Morality (73-78)
- Master (pretty much Rick)
- Courage, Usefulness, Self-Love, Self-Creation
- Slave (Jerry, Most People, The Vindicators [protect the weak and are dishonest])
- Humility, Pity, Fear, Guilt, Obedience, Purity, Forgiveness, need constant approval from the masses
- Slaves turned qualities like self-love, courageousness and domination (quality? In a hierarchy?) into pride, vanity, and greed (via Christianity) (pg 75)
- Slave morality people need the approval of the rest of the ‘herd’ / masses
- Normal, boring people may appear as slaves to the billionaires an even upper-middle class (who are dishonest?) [my thoughts]
- This philosophy was adopted and bastardized by the Tate brothers, no doubt
- Will to Power (super-famous, remember?): The individual’s essential desire to control or dominate others by imposing their own will onto the world
- Outdo, outperform – competition
- Some people express their will dishonestly, like Jerry. He tries to manipulate people into feeling sorry for him.
80) Argues Rick is not the Ubermensch because he envies, resents, and doesn’t create new values. He is not capable of breaking and reinventing the system

Chapter 10: Everything about MeSeeks, and more Repetitive and full of typos though

Chapter 11: Poopy Butthole by editor of book badly-written, not funny, run-on…

Chapter 12: Mediocre, typos

Chapter 13: Typos… but actually interesting on Epicurus. Applying the ‘tetrapharmakos’ to R+M: the cure for unhappiness: don’t fear the gods, don’t worry about death, what is good is easy to get (appreciate natural, simple things like friendship, conversation, water), what is terrible is easy to endure (by remembering/appreciating the good things)

Chapter 18: After bad, awkward lead-up, (187) argues Rick is Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ideal. Jerry is the opposite. A loser parasite who uses pity to survive.
- Rick: Rejects altruism, collectivism, and mysticism. He is independent, self-interested (not selfish), valuable scientist, rational

Chapter 19: Kirkegaard: (191) “In order to attain authentic selfhood, you must remain an individual.” The Rick, not the Council of Ricks. Don’t let others/the herd define you.
- 193) Cool quote on public inaction

Why was our Rick able to accomplish what thousands of Ricks were unable to do? Because our Rick is able to most be himself and allow his passions and actions to be unencumbered by the mediocrity of other people. Kierkegaard would say that this lack of action on the part of the Citadel is due to a lack of passion, which is the result of the masses joining together as a public in enthusiasm but then “wisely” avoiding all meaningful action. Passion requires a person to throw their entire being into their activity and to risk being wrong or failing. It’s easy to look at the objective facts of a situation, but that doesn’t mean you’re willing to throw yourself into a risky action with your whole being. This is why the crowd is deceitful. It encourages people to accept the objective “facts,” but it won’t encourage them to passionately risk upsetting the status quo by acting in response to those facts… The public, like the Council of Ricks, cuts itself off from the passion that could lead to action through endless taking and gossip.

- 195/196: Envy ‘levels’ everyone, stifles creativity and maintains status quo. The Citadel of Ricks have been robbed of the individuality (partially)

[Dave Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not impressed with the text. It's an interesting approach, as each article is written by a different philosopher, which creates a very unique reading experience. However, unfortunately, much of it feels uninspired or ham-fisted. Their attempts to match the shows comedy fell rather flat and there were few articles of note worth reading. Unfortunate

[Noir Alibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looks like Dr.Wang wrote this.

[Adib Hanapi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read about classical philosophy by applying Rick and Morty

[Maher Razouk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provokes thought

[Timothy Yefimov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes funny, but mostly garbage…
Would not recommend

[The_J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh what a tangled wed we weave when attempting to inject Philosophical structure into the Rick and Morty: Best insight the Rick is most definitely, absolutely, no doubt about it, could not be anything else but ... DEAD.