Monty Python and Philosophy Read online

  Table of Contents

  Popular Culture and Philosophy™ Series Editor: William Irwin

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1 - “What’s All This Then?” The Introduction

  The Importance of Being British

  What, That’s Not Enough for You?

  Bloody Hell, There’s More!?!

  Okay, That’s All for Now

  And Where the @#$%^& is the Queen?

  Philosophical Aspects of Monty Python

  Chapter 2 - “Life’s a Piece of Shit”: Heresy, Humanism, and Heroism in Monty ...

  “Blessed Are the Cheese Makers”: The Question of Heresy

  “A New World, a Better Future”: The Question of Humanism

  “Life’s a Piece of Shit”: The Question of Heroism

  Chapter 3 - What Mr. Creosote Knows About Laughter

  To Laugh, or To Scream?

  Who’s Afraid of Mr. Creosote?

  Just Desserts

  Chapter 4 - The Limits of Horatio’s Philosophy

  What I Think My Chapter May Be About

  Wittgenstein and Meaning: The Absurd and The Funny

  Meaning and Practice

  Chapter 5 - Why Is an Argument Clinic Less Silly than an Abuse Clinic or a ...

  What Kind of Argument Would You Like?

  The Philosophical Argument and Reflective Equilibrium

  Suppose You Were Attached to a Dead Parrot: The Role of Thought Experiments

  Chapter 6 - A Very Naughty Boy: Getting Right with Brian

  How I Was Saved

  God Is Dead (and I’m Not Feeling so Good Myself)

  This Deity Is Bleedin’ Demised

  The Plumage Don’t Enter into It

  Romani Ite Domum

  A Good Spanking

  Getting Right with Brian (Just in Case)

  Chapter 7 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Philosophy, Gender, and Society

  Mynd You, Moose Bites Kan Be Pretty Nasti . . .

  Why the Pythons Chose Arthur and the Grail

  Come On, You Pansy!

  We Have Found a Witch. May We Burn Her?

  We Have but One Punishment. . . . You Must Tie Her Down on the Bed and Spank Her

  Er, Well . . . the Thing Is . . . I Thought Your Son Was a Lady

  Yes, but What About the Killer Rabbit?

  Chapter 8 - Against Transcendentalism: Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and Buddhism

  Is There Really Something Called ‘Transcendental Metaphysics’?

  What’s So Wrong with Transcendental Thinking?

  What’s So Grotesque about That?

  Back Down to Earth

  Mind the Mindfulness

  Chapter 9 - Is There Life After Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life?

  Life, the Journey: The Axial Answer

  Death and (the Meaning of) Life

  Philosophy as an Answer

  Liberating Laughter

  And Now for . . . Comedic Eliminativism

  Aspects of Pythonic Philosophy

  Chapter 10 - God Forgive Us

  In Alphabetical Order: Birth Control (and Other Intimate Matters)

  Blasphemy (Name-Calling: With Sticks and Stones to Break Your Bones)

  Heaven (Capitalize for Effect)

  Bonus Material: The Origin of Monty Python’s Christmas in Heaven Is Revealed ...

  Hell (Capitalized because Heaven Was Capitalized)

  A Short but Grave Reflection about God and Hell (You Can Use This at Your ...

  Justice (A Philosopher Is Observed)

  Prayer (A Euphemism for Butt-Kissing and Begging)

  Chapter 11 - Monty Python and David Hume on Religion

  Causes and Reasons

  The Ontological Argument

  Get Me to the Argument Clinic!

  The Conceivable versus the Possible, Or, How to Confuse a Cat

  The Argument from Design, or, “All Things Dull and Ugly”

  The Argument from Miracles, Or, “He’s Been Taken Up!”

  The Cause of Religion, Or “Oh Father, Please Don’t Boil Us”

  The Epilogue: A Question of Belief

  Chapter 12 - Madness in Monty Python’s Flying Circus

  Michel Foucault: Madness as a Social Construct

  Pythonic Madness

  Urban Idiots: Foucauldian and Pythonesque

  Chapter 13 - Monty Python and the Search for the Meaning of Life

  Markets and Motives: Utilitarianism and Monty Python’s Flying Circus

  Tradition and Traits: Virtue Theory and The Holy Grail

  Religion and Rules: Deontology and Monty Python’s Life of Brian

  Knowledge and Nihilism: Science and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life

  Chapter 14 - Existentialism in Monty Python: Kafka, Camus, Nietzsche, and Sartre

  Kafka, Camus, and the “Absurd”

  The Individual and the Meaning of Life

  Sartre, Bad Faith, and Freedom

  A Nietzschean Conclusion

  Chapter 15 - “My Brain Hurts!”

  Hair of the Dog

  Making Sense

  So Show Us

  Do You See It?

  Through Them, on Them, over Them

  An Exercise for the Reader

  No Ambition

  How to Patent Nonsense

  “Is There Life After Death?”

  “Language Games”

  “I’d Like to Put This Question to You, Please, Lizard”

  Does It Sit on a Chair?

  “But—They Simply Do Not Talk”

  “Is There Enough of It About?”

  Chapter 16 - Why Is a Philosopher Like a Python? How Philosophical Examples Work

  Complaints about Complaints and Thinking about Thinking

  Madmen, Blancmanges, Violinists, and Abortion

  The Practical Value of Philosophical Examples

  So, What Have Philosophers Ever Done for Us?

  Pythonic Aspects of Philosophy

  Chapter 17 - Tractatus Comedo-Philosophicus

  A Senseless Waste of Human Reason

  The Overcoming of Philosophy through Comical Paralysis of Language

  Coda

  Chapter 18 - Monty Python’s Utterly Devastating Critique of Ordinary Language Philosophy

  What the Fly Saw

  The Story of Ordinary Language Philosophy: Britain’s Most Influential ...

  The Problem with Brilliance

  Bruces

  A Knockout of an Argument

  Chapter 19 - Word and Objection: How Monty Python Destroyed Modern Philosophy

  In My Day . . .

  The Trouble With Dead Parrots, and Sketches About Them

  What Is to Be Done?

  Chapter 20 - My Years with Monty Python, or, What’s So Funny About Language, ...

  Hume’s Gap

  Hume’s Incomplete Advice

  The Complete Two-Minute Introduction to Conceptual Schemes

  And Therefore . . .

  No Shoes for Muskrats: How the 1956 Olympic Games Destroyed Indonesian Art

  Chapter 21 - Themes in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy as Reflected in the ...

  “International Philosophy,” from Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl

  “Dead Parrot,” Episode 8 of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “Full Frontal Nudity”

  Arthur Meets the Black Knight, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

  “Argument Clinic,” Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Episode 29, “The Money Programme”

  “Nudge Nudge,” Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Episode 3, “How To Recognise ...

  Burn The Witch, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

  “The Cheese Shop,” Episode 33, M
onty Python’s Flying Circus, “Salad Days”

  Everyone Remembers Their First Time: About the authors, nearly all of whom have ...

  What Was All That,Then?

  Copyright Page

  Popular Culture and Philosophy™ Series Editor: William Irwin

  VOLUME 1

  Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000) Edited by William Irwin

  VOLUME 2

  The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! Of Homer (2001) Edited by William Irwin, Mark T. Conard, and Aeon J. Skoble

  VOLUME 3

  The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002) Edited by William Irwin

  VOLUME 4

  Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003) Edited by James B. South

  VOLUME 5

  The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (2003) Edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson

  Volume 6

  Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter’s Box (2004) Edited by Eric Bronson

  VOLUME 7

  The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill Therefore I Am (2004) Edited by Richard Greene and Peter Vernezze

  VOLUME 8

  Woody Allen and Philosophy: You Mean My Whole Fallacy Is Wrong? (2004) Edited by Mark T. Conard and Aeon J. Skoble

  VOLUME 9

  Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004) Edited by David Baggett and Shawn E. Klein

  VOLUME 10

  Mel Gibson’s Passion and Philosophy: The Cross, the Questions, the Controversy (2004) Edited by Jorge J.E. Gracia

  VOLUME 11

  More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded (2005) Edited by William Irwin

  VOLUME 12

  Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005) Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker

  VOLUME 13

  Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005) Edited by Tom Morris and Matt Morris

  VOLUME 14

  The Atkins Diet and Philosophy: Chewing the Fat with Kant and Nietzsche (2005) Edited by Lisa Heldke, Kerri Mommer, and Cindy Pineo

  VOLUME 15

  The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview (2005) Edited by Gregory Bassham and Jerry Walls

  VOLUME 16

  Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason (2005) Edited by Derrick Darby and Tommie Shelby

  VOLUME 17

  Bob Dylan and Philosophy: It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Thinking) (2006) Edited by Peter Vernezze and Carl J. Porter

  VOLUME 18

  Harley-Davidson and Philosophy: Full-Throttle Aristotle (2006) Edited by Bernard E. Rollin, Carolyn M. Gray, Kerri Mommer, and Cynthia Pineo

  VOLUME 19

  Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006) Edited by Gary L. Hardcastle and George A. Reisch

  IN PREPARATION:

  Poker and Philosophy: Pocket Rockets and Philosopher Kings (2006) Edited by Eric Bronson

  U2 and Philosophy (2006) Edited by Mark Wrathall

  The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless (2006) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

  To Kiah, Cheshire, and Quinn, who’ve never had to be told to think for themselves

  —G.L.H.

  And to Bruces Everywhere

  —G.A.R.

  1

  “What’s All This Then?” The Introduction

  GARY L. HARDCASTLE and GEORGE A. REISCH

  Pythonist: A person who professes to prophesy through some divine or esoteric inspiration.

  —Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged

  England. Sunday evening, October 5th, 1969. A big surprise awaits those switching on their television sets and settling in for an evening of entertainment. A game show features Genghis Khan dying, his death scored by panelists. An advertisement for butter heralds its superior taste, all but indistinguishable from that of dead crab. And excited sportscasters cover Pablo Picasso painting while riding a bicycle through England (“It will be very interesting to see how he copes with the heavy traffic round Wisborough Green!”). It’s . . . Monty Python’s Flying Circus!

  At the end of the 1960s—a decade of race riots, student protests, undeclared wars, political assassinations, Woodstock, the first moon landing, and the rise of the sensitive singer-songwriter—perhaps nothing could be entirely new and unexpected. Yet Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin—collectively, Monty Python—pulled it off week after week. When a tuxedoed John Cleese intoned “And now for something completely different . . . ” (mocking the BBC, naturally), he was completely right. Characters suddenly announced their desire to be not only lumberjacks, but cross-dressing lumberjacks. Sketches were interrupted by characters from other sketches. Viewers were taught self-defense techniques against fresh fruit. Somehow, the Pythons consistently found ways to move their audiences—within minutes, sometimes even seconds—from blunt incomprehension (the Fish Slapping Dance?) to fits of hearty, memorable laughter. Python fans vividly remember their first time.

  For many of us, this kind of humor was just what we needed to survive the 1970s, not to mention the 1980s. By then, Monty Python had found its audience, wiggled into the collective consciousness, and become one of the most successful and influential comedy institutions of the twentieth century. After four seasons and forty-five episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the Pythons did the proper British thing and established an empire of books, audio recordings, and feature films, notably Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979), and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983). As of this writing, the empire has conquered Broadway, where Monty Python’s Spamalot, a musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, plays to packed houses (well, at least, we can’t get tickets) while its creators, chief among them Eric Idle, try out various spots on the mantel for the Tony Awards© that the show has won. Indeed, much of popular culture has been Pythonized. Watch George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Andy Kaufman, Mike Myers, and their comedic progeny, or Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, In Living Color, Kids in the Hall, Arrested Development, and their comedic progeny, and you’ll see Python again, echoed in dozens of ways. Read contemporary criticism of entertainment and culture, or nearly anything “postmodern,” and you’ll see the word ‘pythonesque’ or knowing references to “spam” or “nudge nudge, wink wink” that mark a common bond between author and reader—yep, Python fan.

  Not everyone, of course, belongs to the club. We all know one or two who stare at a Python sketch the way a dog looks at a card trick. They just don’t get it. That’s okay, of course—just don’t offer them a Whizzo Chocolate or tell them you weren’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition, lest you get a blank stare in return. This book, on the other hand, is for people who do get it. Actually, it’s a book for people who not only get it, but who have, on occasion, wondered what that “it” is exactly. You’ve probably noticed the book’s title, so you won’t be surprised that we think that Monty Python’s absurdities bear a deep and interesting connection to philosophy.

  Really? What sort of “deep and interesting” connection? It’s a good thing we didn’t have to answer that question before we found contributors and put this book together, for back then we didn’t have an answer. Fortunately, our philosophical colleagues and acquaintances (whom, naturally, we hit up for chapters) were as intrigued with that question as we were. Now that we’ve assembled the book, however, we still won’t declare any simple, final theory about this connection. It remains somewhat mysterious. But thanks in no small part to our contributors, we understand much better why Monty Python and philosophy go together. It all starts with . . .

  The Importance of Being British

  Britain was a philosophical mecca for much of the twentieth century, especially the universities of Cambridge an
d Oxford, where the British Pythons studied in the 1960s. Here, too, philosophical superstars like Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, A.J. Ayer, G.E. Moore, and Gilbert Ryle spent the first half of the twentieth century living, working, playing, and, apparently, threatening one another with pokers.1 (Gilliam, for the record, spent the 1960s at Occidental College in Southern California, which, as they say, explains a lot.) For better or worse, what gets taught in philosophy classrooms around the world to this very day derives from what these philosophers achieved at Oxford and Cambridge.

  True, none of the Pythons specialized in philosophy. Chapman studied to be a physician, Cleese a barrister, Jones an historian, and so on.2 But they didn’t have to be philosophers to get a healthy dose of Russell, Wittgenstein, and the rest. The way these philosophers approached philosophical issues, leaning heavily on an analysis of the language in which philosophical problems were cast, was in the air and influenced nearly every region of the intellectual landscape. And thus it seeped, much like advertising, muzak, or spilt Tate & Lyle’s golden syrup, into so much of what the Pythons did.

  That’s why we’re calling the first part of this volume Philosophical Aspects of Python. These chapters look at the ways in which particular Python sketches or films illustrate some issue or idea from philosophy. They differ in a number of ways, but they all take up a particular bit of Python and wring from it the philosophical content that we suspect is, more often than not, the vestige of an Oxbridge education, circa 1965. These chapters show what happens when twentieth-century philosophy gets run through a filter consisting of equal parts British music-hall tradition, 1960s-style anti-authoritarianism, and straightforward intelligence.