I Think, Therefore I Draw
Understanding Philosophy Through Cartoons
(Sprache: Englisch)
A hilarious new exploration of philosophy through cartoons from the duo who brought you the New York Times bestselling Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar...
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien have been thinking deep thoughts and writing jokes for...
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien have been thinking deep thoughts and writing jokes for...
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A hilarious new exploration of philosophy through cartoons from the duo who brought you the New York Times bestselling Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar...Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien have been thinking deep thoughts and writing jokes for decades, and now they are here to help us understand Philosophy through cartoons, and cartoons through Philosophy. Covering topics as diverse as religion, gender, knowledge, morality, and the meaning of life (or the lack thereof), I Think, Therefore I Draw gives a thorough introduction to all of the major debates in philosophy through history and the present. And since they explain with the help of a selection of some of the smartest cartoonists working today, you'll breeze through these weighty topics as you guffaw and slap your knee.
Cathcart and Klein's Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... and Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates have been a favorite of philosophers and non-philosophers alike for years. Packed with dozens of witty cartoons and loaded with profound philosophical insight, I Think, Therefore I Draw will delight readers and leave them enlightened.
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IWhat's It All About, Alfie?
The Meaning of Life
Is That All There Is?
There is nothing in the cosmos that gives us more pleasure than a cartoon that hits a philosophical idea right on the head. And this is one of them. In this cartoon, the prolific comedy writer and cartoonist Paul Noth pictures a God who not only embraces twentieth-century existentialism's absurdist point of view, he hopes to wring a few laughs out of it.
The question of the meaning of life is generally considered the biggest of the big philosophical questions. If there is no answer to this one, then asking any other philosophical questions seems kind of pointless.
Of course, in modern times, many analytic philosophers find the whole meaning-of-life question pretty silly. "Hey, what is the meaning of 'meaning,' bozo?" they ask. Good question, although there is something unseemly about being called "bozo" by an analytic philosopher.
The twentieth-century existentialists-especially Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Samuel Beckett-concluded that not only is life meaningless, it's absurd. It's all one big Cosmic Gag. The kind where you choke laughing.
Sartre says we humans, unlike things, have no "predetermined essence." There is no objective meaning to our lives, as there is to, say, an ashtray, which has a given reason to exist, namely, to hold ashes and butts. Of course, we could hold ashes and butts too, but for us it would be a choice-the choice to be a human ashtray. (You may be wondering why anyone would choose to be an ashtray. We aren't naming any names, but we do know this one guy-we'll call him Reggie-who chose to be a doormat.) But we could also choose to be something else: for example, a hippie or a tax lawyer. Sartre says that's because our existence "precedes our essence." We aren't handed life's meaning, so it's imperative that we choose it for ourselves.
That's the downside of Sartre's dictum, that we have to make a choice, even if we don't want to. So,
... mehr
on the one hand, we're perfectly free-great. But, on the other hand, we have no objective guidelines on how to use that freedom-yikes! Who can say for sure whether it's better to choose to be a hippie or a tax lawyer? And yet we must choose-and be responsible for that choice. Suddenly, we aren't feeling so good.
Without any objective guidelines, it's an arbitrary choice. That's ridiculous. In fact, it's absurd. Doesn't that mean our very existence is also absurd? Afraid so. But it's also absurd to think we're just another object in the world with a preprogrammed essence.
So, what the hell, some of the existentialists said, let's all just embrace the absurdity of it all and keep on dancing. In his seminal essay on absurdism, "The Myth of Sisyphus," Camus likened the human condition to the man in the Greek myth who spent his entire life pushing a rock up a hill only to have it roll down so he could start all over again. That doesn't sound a whole lot like party time. Yet, Camus concludes, "We must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Now that's really absurd.
The thinker who best captured the sense of existential absurdity was Samuel Beckett, particularly in his classic play Waiting for Godot. In that play, Didi and Gogo, the two vagabonds doing the waiting, spend the whole time not knowing who it is they are waiting for or why. Gogo cries out, "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!"
But Didi says, "What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come."
You call that a blessing? Who the hell is Godot? And why does he never come? And how can we spend our entire lives in the vain hope that he will one day show up?
Well, says Gogo, "We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?"
But perhaps the most absurdis
Without any objective guidelines, it's an arbitrary choice. That's ridiculous. In fact, it's absurd. Doesn't that mean our very existence is also absurd? Afraid so. But it's also absurd to think we're just another object in the world with a preprogrammed essence.
So, what the hell, some of the existentialists said, let's all just embrace the absurdity of it all and keep on dancing. In his seminal essay on absurdism, "The Myth of Sisyphus," Camus likened the human condition to the man in the Greek myth who spent his entire life pushing a rock up a hill only to have it roll down so he could start all over again. That doesn't sound a whole lot like party time. Yet, Camus concludes, "We must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Now that's really absurd.
The thinker who best captured the sense of existential absurdity was Samuel Beckett, particularly in his classic play Waiting for Godot. In that play, Didi and Gogo, the two vagabonds doing the waiting, spend the whole time not knowing who it is they are waiting for or why. Gogo cries out, "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!"
But Didi says, "What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come."
You call that a blessing? Who the hell is Godot? And why does he never come? And how can we spend our entire lives in the vain hope that he will one day show up?
Well, says Gogo, "We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?"
But perhaps the most absurdis
... weniger
Autoren-Porträt von Thomas Cathcart
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein studied philosophy together at Harvard in the last millennium. Since then Danny has written comedy for Lily Tomlin, Flip Wilson, and others, and published scores of fiction and nonfiction books— from thrillers to entertaining philosophical books, such as his London Times bestseller Travels with Epicurus and his most recent book, Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It. Born in 1939, Danny persists in denying his mortality. He thinks it's a joke.Thomas Cathcart studied theology and managed health care organizations before linking up with Danny to write Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington, and I Think Therefore I Draw. He is also the author of The Trolley Problem, or Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the Bridge? and There is no God and Mary is His Mother: Rediscovering Religionless Christianity
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Thomas Cathcart
- 2019, 320 Seiten, Maße: 12,6 x 17,7 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: PENGUIN BOOKS
- ISBN-10: 0143133039
- ISBN-13: 9780143133032
- Erscheinungsdatum: 29.10.2019
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
"Daniel Klein and Thomas Cathcart romp through key concepts in western philosophy courtesy of cartoons. . . A perfect dummies' guide for those who like to smile wryly as the gently exercise their brains." The Age"Ingeniously conceived. . . [I Think, Therefore I Draw] is an enlightening look at philosophy through the laughs we get from zinger cartoons." The Berkshire Eagle
"Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein are up to their old tricks. The distinguished gagmen have been cracking serious philosophy jokes since they were classmates at Harvard in the 1960s, and they give signs neither of curtailing their wit nor moderating its wickedness. . . .[I Think Therefore I Draw] transports ordinary laypersons into extraordinary states of wizened enlightenment without the aid of service dogs or mind-altering substances. This feat often requires more than the application of conventional scholarship. Sometimes only a joke will do. . . . I Think, Therefore I Draw is easy to pick up. Not so easy to set down." The Berkshire Edge
From Zeno to Nietzsche, a lighthearted, illustrated romp through philosophical thought . [Cathcart and Klein] succeed in making philosophy accessible and fun. Entertaining and slyly illuminating. Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...
"[Cathcart and Klein] know their stuff, and wear their learnedness lightly, and Plato and a Platypus is a pleasure to read. I can't help but love this book, and I have been quoting liberally from it" Philosophy Now
"A Hoot." Times Literary Supplement
"What happens when you mix corny jokes, one-liners and vaudeville humour with some of life's great lessons? You get an extraordinary read you'll want to share with as many people as possible." Orlando Sentinel
The zaniest bestseller of the year. The Boston Globe
I laughed, I learned, I loved it. Roy Blount, Jr.
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