humor
CategoryThe Philosophers In Trump’s Cabinet
“I was totally expecting Trump to tap Zeno for secretary of transportation.”
Thank you, David Sobel (Syracuse). (more…)
Did You Hear The One About…?
Did you hear the one about Heraclitus? Well I bet you haven’t heard this version.
Did you hear the one about Foot? It kills.
Philosophical Malapropisms
“Let me illiterate…”
A student once wrote that when he meant “let me reiterate.” It may be the apothecary of malapropisms. I was reminded of it by a malapropisms quiz at The Paris Review. I didn’t know the origin of the term:
Mrs. Malaprop is the pompous aunt in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 comedy, The Rivals, and the eponym for the word malapropism. As ..
Philosopher App Store Redux
A week after Daily Nous began, on a slow Friday, I put up a post soliciting suggestions for the Philosopher App store. Well, it’s another slow Friday, and the site’s readership has grown quite a bit since then, so let’s have another go at it. Feel free to add your own; as I said last time, you can be playful, but please don’t be mean.
From the old store:
Which Philosophy Ideas Make for Good Costumes?
Which philosophical ideas (or examples) would make for a good Halloween costume?
Yes, Brain in Vat. We all think we’ve thought of that one already. What else?
Eternal Recurrence? You went as that last year! And the year before.
I suppose you could go as anything. Just make a sign that says “p & ¬ p” and walk behind it.
How would you go about dressing up ..
Using Comedy Clips in Philosophy Class
I sometimes use excerpts from comedy routines or shows in my teaching. For example, when I teach Frankfurt’s On Bullshit in my contemporary moral problems course, I regularly use this segment from the Colbert Report:
The Colbert Report
Colbert Report Episode Guide, More Colbert Report Videos, Comedy Central Full Episodes
And in my philosophy and ..
Fallacy Ref Calls It
Fallacy Ref is the creation of Glen Welch, a performing arts critic for Red Publication. It’s “a series of image macros featuring an NFL referee calling fouls on invalid argument tactics and sneaky rhetoric.” Some examples:
I can see these coming in handy. You can read more about the project here and see more of the images on Fallacy R..
Lesser-Known Trolley Problems
Kyle York at McSweeney’s presents a very funny selection of lesser-known trolley problem variations. Here are just a few. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
The Time Traveler
There’s an out of control trolley speeding towards a worker. You have the ability to pull a lever and change the trolley’s path so it hits a different worker. The different worker i..
Causes of Deaths of Philosophers
Maintained by Hugh Mellor but apparently last updated in 2005, the Causes of Deaths of Philosophers website humorously speculates about, well, the causes and descriptions of deaths of philosophers. To wit:
Husserl: Phenomenally bad luck
Ryle: Gave up the ghost
Dancy: No particular reason
Sellars: Not given
Benacerraf: Number was up
Wittgenstein: Became the l..