There’s a concept in Metaphysics called “emergence”. It is used to discuss, among other things, a mysterious process that make a collection of meaningless parts join together to become a being we recognize. For example, if arms, kidneys, fingernails, and even brains do not constitute a person without each other, what is the element that definitively unites them as human being.
Similarly, in Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar, some kind of dorky jokes and some shallowly explicated philosophy emerge to become a rather charming and engaging collection that feels a bit like a warm fuzzy blanket for nerds, or anyone else who needs an excuse to laugh at relatively tame jokes. The philosophy of the book is easily understood in the small chunks, and in turn, it brings a bit of gravitas to a collection of delectable but completely cheesy jokes.
The philosophical concepts are neatly and lightly juxtaposed with jokes that successfully illustrate them. Part of the fun of the book is realizing just how much philosophy contributes to jokes we’ve already heard, but also makes a subtler point about how both philosophy and jokes attack the meaning of what it is to be human. Most people know that’s philosophy’s goal, but they may believe that fully grasping it is impossible. Many who feel that philosophy is not for them, or is incredibly esoteric, will be eased into by the realization that in fact, it’s as natural a commentary on our lives as humans as jokes about boobs are.
Perhaps what’s most essential about the book is not that it proves that philosophy is the impetus behind jokes, but that it proves that philosophy is like humor. The authors tend to match each paragraph or few paragraphs of philosophical inquiry with a joke that illustrates it. To borrow some formal logic, this seems to imply a causal relationships: If philosophy, then Jokes. But the truer explanation of what’s at work here is: If alive, then philosophy and/or jokes.
Even those of us who don’t consider ourselves great ponderers of the human condition may realize that in telling jokes, we’re subtly teasing ourselves into testing what it is we truly know. To be Buddhist-minded about it: life is tough. We need to find ways of getting ourselves through it, and for some that’s philosophy while for others, it’s humor. For readers of this book, it may likely be both.
To be fair (and state the obvious), it’s stronger as a book of jokes than it is as a collection of philosophy. You may find yourself reading and think, “Kant is easy! Everyone said Kant was hard to understand, but this is simple, cute and funny.” Well, caveat emptor: that joke about the doctor who can’t see the invisible man only touches the tip of the a priori ice berg.
The real genius revealed here lies not that which is in the mind of the German philosophers, but rather in the minds of the authors. Anyone with a rigorous understanding of the philosophical theories discussed will inevitably be impressed that Cathcart and Klein so adeptly made these fascinating and nearly abstract connections and juxtapositions. (Someone less educated might incorrectly assume that she now understands Kant.)
That being said, a philosopher (with a robust sense of humor) will probably get a good healthy laugh and even some food for thought based on their interesting method of tying together these two disparate methods of enquiry. In addition to some good jokes, there are a few legitimately engaging questions raised. For example, is a joke about a man who marries a woman based on the size of her breasts alone an anti-feminist joke, or an anti-chauvanist joke? Would new age philosophers be embarrassed or annoyed if they heard the joke about aliens stopping on earth to discover bagels—and recommending cream cheese?
In other words, the book, like philosophy and like most jokes, vacillates between sincerity and complete irreverence. However, it never feels irrelevant, and given that it’s sole topics are philosophy and jokes, that’s quite an achievement. The jokes become more important when couched in terms of philosophy, and the philosophy grows more contemporary because it’s described as the father of humor. Jokes feel smarter and philosophy feels easier.
Ultimately, humor, not philosophy, is the take home message. It’s obviously funny (almost giggle out loud funny) to imagine philosophy and jokes smushed together in the same book. It’s a philosophical idea as well, and as the authors are both philosophy majors, they no doubt recognize that humor can provide insight to philosophers.
But at the end of the day, while I wanted to retell all the jokes I read, even as a philosophy major myself, I was hard-pressed to remember any of the concrete ideologies. I half-jokingly said that I decided to read it because I thought it would prepare for me graduate school in the fall. While it did prepare me for school in that it affirmed my incredibly quirky tastes, it also reminded me of just how cavernous and complex philosophy can be. Ha.Ha.Ha.
-Pop Matters - by Rachel Balik
[More Reviews Below] 
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Aug 06, 2008
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Summer's bliss: Our picks for reading that will carry you away
by Karen R. Long / Plain Dealer Book Editor
Sunday July 06, 2008, 12:00 AM
Dora Staneff-Cline/The Plain Dealer
As summer reaches its peak, our pores open and -- if we're lucky -- our days become more languid, our minds and bodies moving a bit more adventurously in the humid air. Our choices of perch also expand -- the porch swing, the lawn chair, the Erie shore. Each of them incomplete without a cool drink and a cool read.
We've saved our list for high summer, and bypassed the obvious to suggest instead which paperback companion might whisper most deliciously in your ear, best whisk away the dull afternoon. Go ahead and enjoy the nearly wordless magic of the film "WALL-E" and the august reopening of the Cleveland Museum of Art, but then drench yourself in language, restore your balance with story.
After all, only a book allow you to be the co-creator, conjuring from ink on the page a melody, a symphony, a lark.
Alexander Pope noted that "some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon." Readers -- by definition -- aren't these stifling types because readers are still . . . reading.
So thrill to the sexiness of Ana Castillo's stories in "Loverboys." Drop into the twin dramas of a Nigerian strongman and Western missionaries in "Things Fall Apart," the reissued novel now placed at the headwaters of African fiction. Suspend your skepticism for a witty, sheep-centric murder mystery called "Three Bags Full." Then hector your friends by reading aloud your favorite snippets from "Plato and a Platypus Walk into A Bar."
When they tire of you, go back to your book. Here's to summer reading.
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .
By Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein.
Penguin, 215 pp., $12.
Two philosophy majors goof on the cartoons and jokes that made their little book a surprise hit last year. They define existentialism as "you haven't lived until you think about death all the time" and dedicate their work to Groucho Marx ("These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.") in a way that will have you skimming and grinning and reading bits aloud to your friends
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Aug 06, 2008
BOSTON GLOBE, 8-3-08
The funny business of change
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar . . . : Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
By Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein Penguin, 224 pp., paperback, $12
The word "philosophy" doesn't exactly conjure up the image of a barrel of monkeys, but you may change your mind when you delve into the exuberant "Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar . . ." Authors Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, both Harvard philosophy grads, realized that jokes present the same concepts as metaphysics, existentialism, relativity, and more, resulting in a book that teaches philosophy with a laugh track.
Jokes, say the authors, tease the mind the same way philosophy does, revealing hidden truths. What is the meaning of life? Is there a god? And what is philosophy? Get ready to laugh as you learn. Each chapter has a zany introduction from two fictional Greek scholars who banter about some aspect of philosophy, setting the scene for the nuggets of wisdom to come. The authors explain Kant's moral imperative, tell you why Pascal's wager is known as hedging your bets, and, best of all, show why and how philosophy has meaning and merit in how we choose to live.
What's so exciting about this book is the effortless way the jokes, by turn ribald, sly, and hilarious, smooth the path to a deeper understanding of our place in society. Irresistibly funny, this book is a terrific way to broaden your outlook and become a deeper thinker to boot.
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Aug 06, 2008
Glen Falls, NY Post-Star
'Plato and a Platypus' makes philosophy more accessible
By Naftali Rottenstreich
Special to The Post-Star
Published: Sunday, August 03, 2008
"Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar ... : Understanding Philosophy through Jokes"
A snail was mugged by two turtles. When the police asked him what happened, he said, "I don't know. It happened so fast."
Once you've stopped giggling (or groaning), ask yourself if there's more to this joke than meets the eye. Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein think so. They're the authors of this year's surprise bestseller, "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar ...: Understanding Philosophy through Jokes."
As their title suggests, Cathcart and Klein have come up with a novel way of introducing readers to that all-intimidating field of knowledge: philosophy. The above joke occurs in a chapter devoted to concept of relativity.
Cathcart and Klein have a daunting task. By and large, Americans have an aversion to philosophy. We pride ourselves on action not thought, and we are most suspicious of abstract speculation; navel-gazing is one of the kinder terms we give to philosophy. But more than 2,000 years ago, Plato insisted that the unexamined life was not worth living. And at some point, all of us feel an urge to make sense of the big questions: Is there a God? What is justice? What is beauty? Who am I? How should I behave? Who knows? Maybe you feel beggared by these huge concerns, tune them out before they gain too much hold of your imagination. If that's the case, "Plato and a Platypus" may be just the book for you.
Divided into chapters that address the major issues that have informed philosophy for thousands of years -- logic, ethics, epistemology -- Cuthcart and Klein's book is chocked full of jokes -- bridged by brief yet illuminating commentary -- that perfectly illustrate complex philosophical principles. Since jokes are so pedestrian, familiar, and, hopefully, funny, the reader is reassuringly -- and maybe unwittingly -- led through those ideas, which, if approached on their own terms, could certainly leave one feeling alienated and baffled.
Here's a humdinger used to illustrate the existential notion of death anxiety:
Three friends are killed in a car accident and meet up in orientation session in Heaven. The celestial facilitator asks them what they would most like to hear said about themselves as their friends and relatives view them in the casket.
The first man says, "I hope people will say that I was a wonderful doctor and a good family man."
The second man says, "I would like to hear people say that as a schoolteacher I made a big difference in the lives of kids."
The third man says, "I would like to hear them say, 'Look, he's moving!' "
In many ways, "Plato and a Platypus" is an extension of the ancient tradition of presenting difficult ideas in simple forms. Plato has his allegories, Jesus his parables, Aesop his fables. At the very least, "Plato and a Platypus" will expand your repertoire of one-liners, but don't be surprised to find yourself thinking about deontological ethics, the Law of Noncontradiction and synthetic statements.
Naftali Rottenstreich is co-owner of Red Fox Books in downtown Glens Falls.
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jan 03, 2008
It's often difficult to find the perfect gifts for people we love. My brother's 65th birthday is rapidly approaching and for weeks I've puzzled over what to give him.
Thanks to my local library, where I'm constantly browsing the racks in search of a good read, I stumbled upon the perfect present, Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein's entertaining tome, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar . . . Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes. (Abrams Image, 2007)
The authors, whose 50-year friendship began when they were philosophy majors at Harvard in the late 1950s, combine their love of musing with the desire to amuse. After college, Klein went on to pursue a career in comedy, writing material for such legendary jokesters as Lily Tomlin, Flip Wilson and David Fry, while Cathcart worked in health care, including many years spent managing a hospice for AIDS patients.
Although their post-college lives diverged, the friends remained close. They even vacationed together. Every year they bade their wives and children goodbye so they could spend a couple of weeks thinking and talking about projects. The concept for Plato and a Platypus emerged during one of their annual get-togethers.
Divided into 10 chapters with titles such as Metaphysics, Logic, Ethics, and Relativity, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar uses humor to explain difficult philosophical concepts in entertaining and easy-to-understand ways. Consider this offering under the chapter titled Ethics:
Armed robbers burst into a bank, line up customers and staff against the wall, and begin to take their wallets, watches and jewelry. Two of the bank's accountants are among those waiting to be robbed. The first accountant suddenly thrusts something into the hand of the other. The second accountant whispers, "What is this?" The first accountant whispers back, "It's the fifty bucks I owe you."
The bank robber story is an example of "situation ethics" in which the ethical thing to do in any situation depends, as Cathcart and Klein explain, "on the peculiar mix of factors in that situation." The authors propose that, "paradoxically, however, it is sometimes by ignoring the specifics of the situation that we create the opportunity for self-serving action." That's what happens in the bank robber anecdote.
The 143 jokes and occasional cartoons in Cathcart and Klein's 200-page study make learning fun. Neither completely a joke book nor an educational text, this one-of-a-kind mini-book (the page size is a compact 5 by 7 inches), is suitable for men and women of all ages and backgrounds. While some of the jokes are on the edge of bawdy and others dance around political correctness, a significant number fall into the completely clean but still hysterical category.
One such ditty presented to illuminate the relativity between finite time and eternity goes like this:
A man is praying to God. "Lord," he prays, "I would like to ask you a question."
The Lord responds, "No problem. Go ahead."
"Lord, is it true that a million years to you is but a second?"
"Yes, that is true."
"Well, then, what is a million dollars to you?"
"A million dollars to me is but a penny."
"Ah, then, Lord," says the man, "may I have a penny?"
"Sure," says the Lord. "Just a second."
It didn't take me much longer than a second to realize that Plato and a Platypus is a special kind of book with an infinite capacity to entertain and illuminate. With a price tag of $18.95, it's also affordable.
If you can use a bit of laughter -- and who couldn't? -- or, if you're struggling to find the right gift for that hard-to-please someone, consider this handheld version of a Harvard philosophy class.
What happens when you mix corny jokes, one-liners and vaudeville humor with some of life's greatest lessons? You get an extraordinary read you'll want to share with as many people as possible. It's a funny-bone tickler with teeth. And that's no joke.
-- OrlandoSentinel.com
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Dec 02, 2007
ArtForum.com
It’s too bad Jesus didn’t tell jokes.* True, his parables were good, but if he were around today, he probably would be more effective if he were to use the joke format. Why? Because the world (or existence, or whatever) is becoming more absurd. Salvation would be for those who understood his jokes, sheep vs. goats.
Jokes (unfortunately?) explain the world to me. Jokes are usually illogical, but to me the reverse is true—they support my view of existence.
I recommend Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein’s Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . . (Abrams), since it lends credence to my point of view. Its subtitle is Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes. The book includes such gems as this, which the authors use in relation to the idea of essentialism.
Abe: I got a riddle for you, Sol. What’s green, hangs on the wall, and whistles? Sol: I give up.
Abe: A herring.
Sol: But a herring isn’t green.
Abe: So you can paint it green.
Sol: But a herring doesn’t hang on the wall. Abe: Put a nail through it, it hangs on the wall.
Sol: But a herring doesn’t whistle!
Abe: So? It doesn’t whistle.
I’ll wager that Richard Prince owns this book. Give a copy to those who stare at you dumbly and say, “That doesn’t make sense,” after you’ve explained something via a joke. It probably won’t help.
*(a) Maybe he did to his disciples, but they didn’t record them. (Not funny enough?)
(b) Yes, perhaps his entire pitch was a joke. (c) There are many good jokes about Jesus. (d) Etc.
John Baldessari is an artist based in Santa Monica, CA.
To view article please click here.
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Dec 02, 2007
PhilosophyNow.org
Cathcart and Klein both majored in philosophy at Harvard, but wisely chose to pursue careers in social work and comedy writing. They know their stuff, and wear their learnedness lightly, and Plato and a Platypus is a pleasure to read. The title, by the way, is a joke set-up, and they are offering a prize for whoever can come up with the best ending for it (see their website www.platoandaplatypus.com for details).
To view article please click here.
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Aug 13, 2007
COMMENTARY - Don't know much about philosophy?
You don't have to in order to understand and enjoy "Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar ....." It helps to have a sense of humor, though. This new book, which has been popping up intermittently on The New York Times Best-Seller List, marries the serious to the silly.
Authors Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein explain philosophical principles through jokes of the sort suggested in their title. (You have to read to the very end for the punch line of that one.)
The exercise is not so incongruous, as philosopher and funny man both seek to shed light on the human condition and the meaning of life.
This may be Leibniz Lite, but the book really does give the uninitiated an inkling of what constitutes metaphysics, logic, epistemology, ethics, existentialism and relativity, as well as what's behind the philosophy of religion and language, and social and political philosophy.
It does so handsomely, in a compact, 200-page hardcover bound in green and orange, with decorated endpapers and illustrative cartoons. It has a little straight text, lots of jokes (many of them risqué), short chapters, a timeline of "Great Moments in the History of Philosophy" and a glossary. Would that it had an index too, but you get a lot for $18.95.
The book draws examples from the ancients, such as Buddha and Socrates, and may cause you to reformulate your opinion of Niccolo Machiavelli. It doesn't neglect contemporary "thinkers" like comic cancer victim Gilda Radner, with her existential shtick; former President Bill Clinton, with his questioning of the definition of "is"; and TV's Tony Soprano character, with his take on the Golden Rule.
The authors, well into middle-aged judging by their cover photo, were philosophy majors at Harvard. They went on to pursue the contemplative life by working with street gangs in Chicago and writing jokes for comedians.
They call their lighthearted review of thousands of years of man's deepest questioning of life "philogagging." That suggests something that sticks in the craw, but readers are likely to find their weighty jokes very "dijestible."
JO-ANN GREENE, Books editor Sunday News
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jul 29, 2007
If there ever was a book about which one should say as little as possible so as not to spoil its next reader's enjoyment, this is it!
According to the cover, its two authors "pursued the usual careers after majoring in philosophy at Harvard." Tom Cathcart "worked with street gangs in Chicago and dropped in and out of various divinity schools." Dan Klein "wrote jokes for comedians, designed stunts for Candid Camera, and continues to pen thrillers." Their mug shots, which serve as bookends for volumes such as The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy and The Encyclopedia of Jewish Humor, suggests that each has been at it for a while.
Doing exactly what its title announces, using jokes to understand philosophy, it covers all of the discipline's subfields plus a chapter on "Existentialism," which seems more like a topic. Although we have heard some of them before, the aptness of the jokes to various philosophical issues and options is both instructive and entertaining. Also taken from the book's cover, this is how they summarize existentialism: "You haven't lived until you think about death all the time." Yes!
Only the philosophically least secure will take offense at this book's humor. I especially like its jokes about free will theism and process theology, two of my favorite schools of thought. The joke about the gambler who hears a voice from process theology's God as he is playing is one that I like the very best.
Is there anyone who can write a good book on "Understanding Theology Through Jokes?" I hope so! New York: Abrams Image, 2006.
--Ponder Anew (www.ponderanew.typepad.com)
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jul 15, 2007
Cathcart and Klein bookend their work with their own work and their own senses of humor. The final section of the work, with a timeline of philosophy, gives an excellent overview of the development of the human mind and our need to reason. It is also one more example of the inner laugh-track these two men live with on a daily basis. Did you know, I ask, that in "1650 Descartes stopped thinking for a second and died"? Or that in 1818 "older brothers Chico, Groucho, Gummo, Harpo, and Zeppo welcomed baby Karl into the world"?
In fact, the laughter never ends in this miniature world of thought. Even in the glossary which ends the book there are bright moments to be found. Real definitions are peppered with one-liners and I challenge you to find the one that includes this quasi-philosophical rendering: "This example will not work for our readers at the North Pole."
Once you start this book, it is hard to put down. The jokes, the zingers and the thought behind them carry you along like a good night at the Comedy Club just might. The principal difference is that you end with the principle, not the difference. Get it? Got it. Good.
-- J. Peter Berman, Berkshire Eagle, July 15
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jun 30, 2007
Once, in the bluest of moons, a volume sneaks out from under the book tower and begs for review. So it was with the enticingly titled Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes (Abrams Image, June, 2007).
An instant best seller, beating out the anti-Hilary pontifications on the best-seller list, P&P establishes “philogagging,” a neologism for using jokes to illustrate arcane philosophical precepts, as a modus operandi. Yes, the jokes are old. So? Most accepted philosophical constructs and struggles with meaning are even older than the jokes.
What is the principle of philogagging? C&K believe: “The construction and payoff of jokes and the construction and payoff of philosophical concepts are made out of the same stuff. They tease the mind in the same ways…philosophy and jokes proceed from the same impulse: to confound our sense of the way things are, to flip our worlds upside down, and to ferret out hidden, often uncomfortable, truths about life. What the philosopher calls an insight, the gagster calls a zinger.”
Just who are these philogaggers par excellence? What did Paul Tillich, who taught these typically sixties characters, predict for their future? What does happen to two Harvard 1960s philosophy majors as the years pass? Just what you know happens to the rest of us. The Philosophy of Time and the tricks of Relativity catch up with them—just as their jokes did. Their beards are white. Their hair—what’s left—is combed over the top to pretend there’s more wisps than meet the eye. But their wit and their grasp of philosophy remain rich and fertile. Maybe even richer than half a century ago.
Do all the years demonstrate whether time and truth are relative or absolute? C&K don’t know the answer any more than do the rest of us. But they try to figure it out. Focusing on varying perceptions of time’s relativity, they illustrate with these jokes:
This one:
“A snail was mugged by two turtles. When the police asked him what happened, he said, ‘I don’t know. It all happened so fast.’”
Or this:
“A man is praying to God…’Lord, is it true that a millions years to you is but a second?’ ‘Yes, that is true.’
‘Well, then, what is a million dollars to you?’
‘A million dollars to me is but a penny.’
‘Ah, then, Lord,’ says the man, ‘may I have a penny?’
‘Sure,’ says the Lord. ‘Just a second.’”
Not to be outdone by philosophy’s age-old wrestling match with the meaning of meaning, Cathcart and Klein play with definitions of “meaning” through the centuries. In one of their best chapters, “Philosophy of Language,” which sees philosophy as semantics, they remember “When William Jefferson Clinton responded to a query, ‘It depends on what your definition of “is” is.’” Clinton was employing Language Philosophy, note C&K, adding, “He also may have been doing other things.”
Willing to comment on philosophical history, C&K outline “Great Moments in the History of Philosophy” in the back of the book. Their history includes such stellar occasions as “399 A.D. A review in Alexandria Asp dismisses Hypatia’s Neoplatonism as ‘chick lit’”; C&K add that Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792 and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex in 1958 suffered the same fate; “1328 William Occam invents the Gillette Mach 3”; “1650 Rene Descartes stops thinking for a second and dies.”
Their glossary is equally enlightening—and pertinent. They define a priori as “Known prior to experience. For example, one can know, prior to ever watching the show, that all American Idol contestants believe they are singers because American Idol is a singing contest for people who—for reasons best known to themselves—believe they are singers.” The zinger here comments, “Contrast a posteriori,” which means “Known by experience; known empirically.”
When you walk into C&K’s literary bar (just where is it located?) with Plato & a Platypus, do a quick reading for the jokes and then reread their little book for all the philosophical definitions and comments that aren’t as simple as they seem. The subjects range from metaphysics, logic, epistemology, philosophy of language and relativity (my favorites) to existentialism and ethics.
What to do with such a little book? Digest the philosophy, try to remember it (that’s the tough part), and use the philogags, no matter how tired. At your next cocktail party when the conversation lags and your feet hurt despite your Doctor Scholl’s pads, confound your drinking confreres with your philosophical know-how. Then, buy the book for all those know-it-alls who disagree with you."
Review by Nancy Yanes Hoffman, the Writing Doctor's Blog
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jun 25, 2007
"Philosophy with a Sense of Humor Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein have published a primer on philosophy that will appeal to even the most philosophically disinclined. "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a bar . . ." is philosophy with a sense of humor. Really. The book's subtitle is "Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes."
The book is a delightful read. It is certain to introduce many intellectually reticent young people to the joys of critical thought and reflection. I suspect that it is destined to become a classic text.
There's a joke on every page. Sometimes two or three jokes on a page and every one of them illustrative of a philosophic insight. There's just enough discussion of philosophers and their beliefs to tease the reader into searching beyond the text for a fuller understanding."
-- Dr. Bruce Prescott, Mainstream Baptist Blog
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jun 25, 2007
"The charming Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes, by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein (Abrams Image, 198 pages, $22.95), begins with the old but always fresh "turtles all the way down" joke - with which Stephen Hawking also begins A Brief History of Time - as illustration of the idea of infinite regress, that is, the effort to determine a first cause of things. There follow jokes, often very funny jokes, that illustrate questions and principles in metaphysics, logic, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of language, existentialism (Restaurant customer to waiter: How do you prepare your chickens? Waiter: Oh, nothing special. We just tell them they're gonna die)."
-- Martin Levin, Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada)
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jun 11, 2007
"Bottom line is that, through humor, and without turning philosophy itself into a joke, the authors manage to make it simpler for you to understand these often difficult-to-grasp philosophical concepts -- something you might not have "gotten" before or otherwise. Beats a long, monotonous lecture!
As the authors reportedly say " "The construction and payoff of jokes and the construction and payoff of philosophical concepts are made out of the same stuff. They tease the mind in similar ways. That's because philosophy and jokes proceed from the same impulse: to confound our sense of the way things are, to flip our worlds upside down, and to ferret out hidden, often uncomfortable, truths about life. What the philosopher calls an insight, the gagster calls a zinger."
Read On!"
Silvianne T. Steinbach, TOTALLYSAVVYWOMAN.COM
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
May 20, 2007
"A surprise bestseller that is a rarity -- corny and fascinating all at the
same time.
Would anyone think that two '60s Harvard philosophy graduates would be able
to put together a book that explains philosophy through humor -- some of it
deserving a snare drum beat at the end -- that is dead on delightful?
As one online reviewer notes:
In a section on Aristotle contrasting between "essential" and "accidental"
properties, Cathcar and Klein offer this illustrative joke:
When Thompson hit 70, he decided to change his lifestyle completely so he
could live longer. He went on a strict diet, he jogged, he swam and he took
sunbaths.
In just three months' time, Thompson lost 30 pounds and reduced his waist by
six inches. Svelte and tan, he decided to top it off with a new haircut.
Stepping out of the barbershop, he was hit by a bus.
As he lay dying, he cried out, "God, how could you do this to me?" [ba-ba
boom]
And a voice from the heavens responded: "To tell you the truth, Thompson, I
didn't recognize you."
We laugh - why? The answer to the question 'why' gives us understanding
about philosophy, ourselves, and the world around us."
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
May 04, 2007
"This is such a profound and hilarious treasure of a little book that I have ordered several as gifts for family and friends.
"Because I am long removed from the formal study of philosophy in college, I am grateful to be so smoothly and delightfully reintroduced to philosophical concepts. I intended to read only a brief section (one concept) at a time--each takes no more than fifteen minutes-- but couldn't keep away for long, and finished the book in a day. Now I've lent my copy to a friend, but I can hardly wait to get it back and read it again.
"[The illustrations are] good jokes, relevant jokes, jokes that made me laugh aloud even as they stimulated my own search.
"I don't think I have ever before had such a joyful read."
Peggy Smith
author, Mark My Words
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Apr 29, 2007
From their freshman year in college they were inseparable pals, once called “the Mutt and Jeff of post-Kantian idealism.” That epithet somehow failed to catch on, even though both were philosophy concentrators and Tom Cathcart ’61 and Daniel Klein ’61 do stand six-foot-five and five-foot-eight, respectively. Both studied with Paul Tillich and Willard van Orman Quine, and took a junior tutorial with classmate and current U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter...Nearly half a century later, those epistemological theories, truth tables, and falsifiable propositions have borne fruit in Cathcart and Klein’s new book, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy through Jokes (Abrams). Consider it Philosophy 101 as taught by Jackie Mason. --Harvard Magazine
For compete text click here.
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Apr 16, 2007
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes, by Harvard philosophy majors Tom Cathcart and Dan Klein, is a hoot. In a section on Aristotle contrasting between "essential" and "accidental" properties, they offer this illustrative joke:
When Thompson hit 70, he decided to change his lifestyle completely so he could live longer. He went on a strict diet, he jogged, he swam and he took sunbaths. In just three months' time, Thompson lost 30 pounds and reduced his waist by six inches. Svelte and tan, he decided to top it off with a new haircut. Stepping out of the barbershop, he was hit by a bus.
As he lay dying, he cried out, "God, how could you do this to me?"
And a voice from the heavens responded: "To tell you the truth, Thompson, I didn't recognize you."'
-Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Apr 05, 2007
This lively and sophisticated little book explains the basics of metaphysics, logic, epistemology, ethics, existentialism, relativity, and more through jokes that illustrate each concept. The authors, both of whom were philosophy majors at Harvard many years ago, assert "that “philosophy and jokes proceed from the same impulse: to confound our sense of the way things are, to flip our worlds upside down, and to ferret out hidden, often uncomfortable, truths about life.” A sprightly crash course in philosophy, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar… is both enlightening and laugh-out-loud funny. -Bas Bleu
[More Reviews Below]
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
Jan 08, 2007
"I laughed, I learned, I loved it!"
-Roy Blount, Jr.
| Comments | ||
|---|---|---|
| No Comments | ||
