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"The pluralistic form takes for me a stronger hold on reality than any other philosophy I know of, being essentially a social philosophy, a philosophy of 'co'"-William James
Space Dandy is a show
about a Dandy guy in space. Being a bounty hunter Dandy and his crew go on
adventures to try and grab unregistered aliens. But it isn’t as simple as that,
other than Dandy’s love for the booty and his favorite fast food restaurant
Boobies ( A floating boob in space) he is special in a way that only the
narrator knows. In the episode “Nobody Knows the Chameleon Alien, Baby” Dandy
and his crew are on the hunt for a Chameleonian. Which is an alien that can
change its appearance to look like someone else. While they are on the hunt for
the rare Chameleonian they start to find duplicates of themselves and when the
Chameleonian turns into Dandy the crew is torn in two as to which Dandy is the
real Dandy.
They then host a quiz bowl to determine who the real Dandy is by asking
questions only the real Dandy would know. One such question is “Finish this
thought. ‘I am a slave to?’” Dandy number one then answers, “The booty”. The
quiz continues with both Dandys answering the questions correctly leading both
Dandys to question if they themselves are the real Dandy. The Chameleonian can
copy someone well enough to trick itself into believing that it is indeed that
person, so both Dandys contemplate if they are the real Dandy or just a
Chameleonian. Just as both Dandys were on the brink of going crazy one of them
found the answer.
From the narrator’s
perspective he says, “Drowning in the introspection he couldn’t even spell he
grasped at answers, and then as it all went black he found one.” Dandy then
proclaims, “Who cares, baby?” and proceeded to talk about how awesome he is and
that he is glad that he is Dandy. They find the real dandy by the end of the
episode and the show goes on. But I had to stop and think “What if I’m not who
I think I am.” Would I care and if not should I? How can I know if I am me or
the me I think I am. Could I just arrive at the conclusion that if I were not
me would I be happy that at least I am an imitation of someone amazing? What if
one day you found out you weren’t who you thought you were for your whole life
and found out that you were just a Chameleonian? It’s funny to think about and
while I don’t have any identity issues I do believe I could agree with Dandy
and say that I am awesome enough to not care.
Space Dandy plays well into questions of Hedonism. Should people chase after what is most pleasurable at all times or act more rationally and sacrifice pleasure?
So, the main philosophical relevance of the Space Dandy is the issue of personal identity? John Locke was concerned about that. What would HE say, to the SD's "don't care" attitude? Why is it awesome not to care, as opposed to not being perturbed because you're confident of your own continuous identity through all changes? We're all chameleons to an extent, after all. And if you were a literal chameleon, well, wouldn't that still be a solid and continuous identity?
Space Dandy plays well into questions of Hedonism. Should people chase after what is most pleasurable at all times or act more rationally and sacrifice pleasure?
ReplyDeleteSo, the main philosophical relevance of the Space Dandy is the issue of personal identity? John Locke was concerned about that. What would HE say, to the SD's "don't care" attitude? Why is it awesome not to care, as opposed to not being perturbed because you're confident of your own continuous identity through all changes? We're all chameleons to an extent, after all. And if you were a literal chameleon, well, wouldn't that still be a solid and continuous identity?
ReplyDelete