humor
CategoryMini-Heap
Links of the day… (more…)
Mini-Heap!
Weekend Mini-Heap… (more…)
Philosophy Valentines
Your arguments strong, your conclusions sound.
Citations of my work, alas, have not been found.
– Reviewer #2 (more…)
Bits of Laughing Matter (guest post)
Gerald Dworkin, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of California, Davis, seeks out philosophical humor and has put together a couple of volumes of it (see here). (more…)
Collective Nouns for Philosophers by Area of Specialization
A murder of crows. A cackle of hyenas. A knot of toads. A confusion of philosophers? Or is it a fog of philosophers? Or…? There was some discussion of what we should call a collection of philosophers here several years ago. (more…)
Types of __________ Papers (updated)
Last week, Randall Munroe, author of the famed webcomic xkcd published a comic about “Types of Scientific Paper“: (more…)
Absurdist Video Edits of Philosophers Talking
Saul Kripke, Kit Fine, Timothy Williamson, John McDowell, Jonathan Schaffer, Graham Priest, Robert Brandom, and other philosophers are the unwitting stars of films created by an unknown YouTuber who is editing footage of them speaking in order to produce bizarre montages, shorts with augmented visuals and music, and other strange and funny videos. (more…)
Philosophical Candy
Halloween is coming around again, that time of year where we have fun making things extra scary. But hasn’t this past year been frightening enough? (more…)
The Status of “Philosophy Labs” this Fall
Mohamed Mehdi, chair of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy at Oakton Community College, updated his faculty on the plans regarding their “philosophy labs” for this coming fall. (more…)
Philosophers Respond to Social Distancing
How do philosophers respond to being told they have to “social distance” and avoid leaving their homes in order to slow the Covid-19 pandemic?
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Philosophers’ Scary Nicknames: A Halloween Game
Happy Halloween, philosofriends! To celebrate, I thought we could come up with scary nicknames for well-known philosophers. But there are some rules on how to do it… (more…)
Philosophers’ Pick-Up Lines
“I didn’t know that angels could fly so low. Or that angels even existed anymore now that God is dead… amiright???” (more…)
“Academic Philosophy Is Ruining Our Marriage”, Non-Hegel Versions
By now many readers will have seen the Reddit post written by a physicist seeking advice about what to do about her Hegel-obsessed philosopher-of-science husband. It was posted in the Heap of Links the other day, and all over social media—to the extent that “Hegel” was trending on Twitter. (more…)
100 Greatest Philosophical Spoilers (guest post by Richard Greene)
The less a work has to offer us besides information about happens in the end, the more reason we have to avoid spoilers for it. When it comes to philosophy, knowing what happens in the end usually doesn’t spoil much at all: the real entertainment is in seeing how the author got there. (more…)
A Parody Issue of Mind… from 118 Years Ago (Updated)
Some people worry that philosophers keep asking the same questions over and over again. If you think that’s bad, you may be upset to learn that philosophers keep telling the same jokes over and over again. (more…)
Philosophers Whose Names Match Their Specializations
Which philosophers have names that reflect what they study and write about? (more…)
Halloween Costumes of Famous Philosophers
Happy Halloween! If well-known philosophers were to dress up for Halloween in what they’d think are scary costumes, what would their costumes be? (more…)
Philosophers Sing about the “Epistemic Epidemic”
It’s the latest dance, the best in town: / Grab a word like “epistemic”, then add a noun / Like “angst” or “insouciance” or “indulgence” or “greed” / If you want a paper topic that’s all you need! (more…)
“Physics Envy” and Some More Light Verse
The following are three poems from Felicia Nimue Ackerman, Professor of Philosophy at Brown University. (more…)
Topic-Appropriate Excuses for Plagiarism in Philosophy Papers
For a paper on time travel: “I didn’t plagiarize David Lewis’s 1976 American Philosophical Quarterly paper. In 1975, he traveled to the future and plagiarized me!”
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“In Love With Your Philosophy”
This may be the best philosophy-inspired parody of a pop song ever… (more…)
Philosophy Memes from Tomas Bogardus
Tomas Bogardus, associate professor of philosophy at Pepperdine University, handles the Instagram feed for the Pepperdine Philosophy Club, and he takes this role very seriously, creating pitch-perfect philosophy memes. (more…)
A Collection of Philosophy Humor
Gerald Dworkin, distinguished professor of philosophy emeritus at UC Davis, has put together another volume of philosophical humor, Philosophy: A Commonplace Book, Volume II. It’s available as an e-book here (as is the first volume). (more…)
Philosophy Horror Films
Halloween is almost upon us, and to mark the occasion, Nolen Gertz, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Twente, Ethicist For Hire, and philosophy comic strip artist, took to Twitter recently to list some philosophy horror films (#philosophyhorrorfilms): (more…)
“Easter Eggs” in Academic Philosophy
Secret features or qualities, hidden messages, subtle references, often humorous—what’s come to be known as “Easter Eggs”—appear in various media, from video games, to movies to Apple’s Siri, to even some recent high profile resignation letters. What about in academic philosophy writings? (more…)
Funding Opportunities and Award Competitions (guest post by Amy Olberding)
The following is a guest post* by Amy Olberding, professor of philosophy at the University of Oklahoma, in which she shares some, uh, unusual funding and awards opportunities. (more…)
Songs That Would Have Been Different If Co-Written With Philosophers
“The Shadow of Your Cave Wall” – Tony Bennett (J. Mandel/P.F. Webster/Plato)
“Being and Time In a Bottle” – Jim Croce (J. Croce/M. Heidegger)
“Abyss On My List” – Hall and Oates (D. Hall/J. Oates/ F. Nietzsche) (more…)
Short Academic Horror Story: Philosophy Subgenre
There are some amusing entries in the Twitter thread #shortacademichorrorstory, which asks for “the shortest academic horror story you can write”: (more…)