Chuck Klosterman and Philosophy

Seth Vannatta is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He teaches philosophy of law, political philosophy, ethics, logic, and American philosophy. He is a former varsity volleyball coach and soccer coach and has written on the philosophy of sport.

Since he burst on the world with his heavy-metal memoir "Fargo Rock City" in 2001, Chuck Klosterman has been one of the most successful novelists and essayists in America. His collections of essays "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" and "Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas" have established Klosterman not only as a credible spokesman for intelligent purveyors of popular culture. His writings and regular columns (in "Spin," "Esquire," "The New York Times Magazine" and other venues) about music, sports, and modern culture have sometimes become themselves touchstones in popular culture. The success of his card-based game "Hypertheticals: 50 Questions for Insane Conversations" has demonstrated that Klosterman can connect with his fans and readers even off the printed page. As he writes in his contribution to this book, Klosterman "enjoys writing about big, unwieldy ideas" as they circulate in culture, in people, in music, and in sports. The twenty-two other philosophers writing alongside Klosterman couldn't agree more. They offer their own take on the concepts and puzzles that fascinate him and take up many of Chuck's various challenges to answer brain-twisting "hypertheticals" or classic ethical quandaries that would arise if, say, Aristotle wandered backstage at a Kiss concert.