Title: Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar… Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
Authors: Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein
Paperback: 196 pages
published: 2008
ISBN: 9780143113874
An Irishman walks into a Dublin bar, orders three pints of Guinness, and drinks them down, taking a sip from one, then a sip from the next, until they’re gone. He then orders three more. The bartender says, “You know, they’d be less likely to go flat if you bought them one at a time.”
The man says, “Yeah, I know, but I have two brothers, one in the States, one in Australia. When we all went our seperate ways, we promised each other that we’d all drink this way in memory of the days when we drank together. Each of these is for one of my brothers and the third is for me.”
The bartender is touched, and says, “What a great custom!”
The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar and always orders the same way.
One day he comes in and orders two pints. The other regulars notice, and a silence falls over the bar. When he comes to the bar for his second round, the bartender says, “Please accept my condolences, pal.”
The Irishman says, “Oh, no, everyone’s fine. I just joined the Mormon Church, and I had to quit drinking.”
-”Illogical Reasoning,” Plato and a Platypus Walks into a Bar… by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, page 29
In Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar… by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein the authors use jokes to illustrate a wide variety of philosophical schools of thought. Sometimes they do it with great intelligence and deftness, sometimes not so much. Most of the jokes are quite funny, with an occasional belly-buster, but some do fall a little flat.
But the jokes are only a vehicle for the authors to open the door for the layman to understand different philosophical thoughts. For the most part, they are successful in this venture, but there are a few sections which I didn’t understand any better after reading them than I did before. Overall, however, the book seems to be meant only to introduce the reader to philosophy, leaving it to them to explore different concepts on their own.
Two cows are standing in the pasture. One turns to the other and says, “Although pi is usually abbreviated to five numbers, it actually goes on into infinity.”
The second cow turns to the first and says, “Moo.” -”Metaphysics,” page 20
What this book really accomplishes is make philosophy accessable to readers who have had little to no exposure to it. After reading, I also want to look into some of the philosophers mentioned in this book. For readability and for inspiring me to get MORE books, I give Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar… by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein 4 out of 5 stars.
An eighty-year-old woman bursts into the men’s day-room at the retirement home. She holds her clenched fist in the air and announces, “Anyone who can guess what I have in my hand can have sex with me tonight!”
An old man in the back shouts, “An elephant?”
The woman thinks for a moment and says, “Close enough!” -”Philosophy of Language,” page 141
By the way, the website is pretty cool, as well. You can watch videos as well as take tests and read the authors’ latest news. Check out Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar… the website.
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