A chuckle on philosophy--book review

"Philosophy & Laughter: “Dead! Whatcha Gonna Do About it!”"

by

Noam Raydan

December 3rd. 2012

NOW Lebanon

“So Heidegger and a hippo stroll up to the Pearly Gates and Saint Peter says, “Listen, we’ve only got room for one more today. So whoever of the two of you gives me the best answer to the question ‘What is the meaning of life?’ gets to come in.”

And Heidegger [by the way this is Martin Heidegger the German philosopher who tried to answer the question of “being”]  says, “ To think being itself explicitly requires disregarding Being to the extent that it is only grounded and interpreted in terms of beings and for beings as their ground, as in all metaphysics.”  But before the hippo can grunt one word, Saint Peter says to him, “Today’s your lucky day, Hippy!”

This is not a joke, which my own hands cooked, but one of the many jests created by Messrs Thomas Cathcart and Daniel of Klein, authors of “Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (And Jokes!) to Explore Life. Death. The Afterlife. And Everything in Between.”  Yes, these are the same geniuses who wrote “Plato and a Platypus Walk through a Bar.” They will make you laugh your head off while exploring the heart of the Reaper (death), life and blablabla … You will love philosophy honey IF you laugh.

I found “Heidegger and Hippo” (2010) over the weekend at Beirut’s Virgin Megastore.

I bought it and spent the night reading it and laughing with the voices in my head (again, yes I might be a lunatic, this is a possibility). But believe me; these jokes will leave you wondering and speculating about questions we rarely think about.  All students, who think that taking a philosophy class is “boring,” and to all philosophy professors, who bore the pants off of their pupils, should read this book and also “Plato and a Platypus walk through a Bar.”

Oops…Death, my love, can’t live with you, can’t live without you:

Allow Cathcart and Klein to break down questions about the inescapable Reaper with a joke: “Millie accompanied her husband Maurice to the doctor’s office. After he had given Maurice a full check up, the doctor called Millie into his office alone.” He said, “Maurice is suffering from a serious disease brought on by extreme stress. If you don’t do the following your husband will die. Each morning, wake him up gently with a big kiss then fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant at all times and make sure he is always in a good mood. Cook him only his favorite meals and allow him to relax after eating….Try to relax him every evening by giving him massages…. If you can do all of this, every day, for the next six months I think Maurice will regain his health completely.”

On the way home Maurice asked Millie: “What did the doctor say?”

“He said you are going to die.”

Okay, German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, once wrote that “the death of an individual is of absolutely no consequence,” and therefore it should be “a matter of indifference to us.”  Hmm, indifferent?

Here is the joke: “So Ole died and his wife Lena went to the local paper to put a notice in the obituaries. The gentleman at the counter, after offering his condolences, asked Lena what she would like to say about Ole. Lena said:  You just put ‘Ole died.’ Perplexed, the man said: “That’s it?” There must be something more you’d like to say about Ole. You lived together fifty years, you have children and grandchildren. Besides, if it’s money you’re worried about, you should know that the first five words are free.

“Okay” Lena said. “Put down, ‘Ole died. Boat for Sale.’”

Go buy the book….learn while laughing.

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between

by

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

ISBN-10: 0670020834
ASIN: B004MPRWZU

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...SAY WHAT?--book review

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...SAY WHAT?--book review

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!

Two samples...

Illogical Reasoning:

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 separate 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 a 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.”

Deductive Logic:

An old cowboy walks into a bar and orders a drink. As he sits there sipping his whiskey, a young lady sits down next to him. She turns to the cowboy and asks him, “Are you a real cowboy?”

He replies, “Well, I’ve spent my whole life on the ranch, herding horses, mending fences and branding cattle, so I guess I am.”

She says, “I’m a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about women. When I shower or watch TV, everything seems to make me think of women.”

A little while later, a couple sits down next to the old cowboy and asks him, “Are you a real cowboy?”

He replies, “I always thought I was, but I just found out I’m a lesbian.”

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes

by

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

ISBN-10: 081091493X
ISBN-13: 978-0810914933

Tom Cathcart and Daniel Klein pursued the usual careers after majoring in philosophy at Harvard. Tom worked with street gangs in Chicago, doctors at Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and dropped in and out of various divinity schools. He lives with his wife on Cape Cod. Dan has written jokes for various comedians including Flip Wilson and Lily Tomlin. He lives with his wife in the Berkshires. Together, they are authors of the politically incorrect book of daily affirmations, Macho Meditations.