Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
by Daniel Klein, Thomas Cathcart
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel Klein, Thomas CathcartEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-05-01
ISBN: 1615598626
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Abrams Image
Book Reviews of Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
Book Review: My kind of text!
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally, I've come across my kind of text: PLATO AND PLATYPUS
WALK INTO A BAR: UNDERSTANDING PHILOSOPHY THROUGH
JOKES by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein . . . I only regret
that this engaging--and informative!--book wasn't available when
I took the course as an undergraduate.
Imagine having humor brought into the teaching of such topics as
Metaphysics, Logic, Epistemology, and even Existentialism . . . you'd
certainly want to study more and/or perhaps switch majors . . . either
that or you'd want a similar book for such courses as Economics
and Physics.
The authors not only share jokes, but they also present a
philosophical background for telling them:
* One type of applied ethics that burgeoned in the twentieth century
was professional ethics, the codes regulating the relationships
of professionals to clients and patients.
After attending a conference on professional ethics, four psychiatrists
walked out together. One said, "You know, people are always coming
to us with their guilt and fears, but we have no one to go to with our
problems. So why don't we take some time right now to hear each other
out?" The other three agreed.
The first psychiatrist confessed, "I have an almost uncontrollable
desire to kill my patients."
The second psychiatrist said, "I find ways to cheat my patients out
of their money whenever I can."
The third followed with, "I'm involved in selling drugs and often
get my patients to sell them for me."
The fourth psychiatrist then confessed, "You know, no matter how
hard I try, I can't seem to keep a secret."
They also take some old classics that you may have not heard
for quite some time, then introduce them with a twist that
will leave you laughing:
* . . . take away Socrates's rationality and he's no longer Socrates,
but give him plastic surgery, and he's Socrates with a nose
job. Which reminds us of a joke.
When Thompson hit seventy, he decided to change his lifestyle completely
so that 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 thirty pounds,
reduced his waist by six inches, and expanded his chest by five inches. Svelte
and tan, he decided to top it all off with a sporty new haircut. Afterward, while
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."
There are only 188 pages in PLATO AND A PLATYPUS . . . it left
me wanting more . . . and when's the last time you hear anybody
ever say that about anything remotely related to philosophy?
Summary of Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
Here?s a lively, hilarious, not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical traditions, schools, concepts, and thinkers. It?s Philosophy 101 for everyone who knows not to take all this heavy stuff too seriously. Some of the Big Ideas are Existentialism (what do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common?), Philosophy of Language (how to express what it?s like being stranded on a desert island with Halle Berry), Feminist Philosophy (why, in the end, a man is always a man), and much more. Finally?it all makes sense!?I laughed, I learned, I loved it!? Roy Blount Jr.
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