plato and platypus walk into a bar review

“No,” says the Irishman, “I joined the church and I can’t drink anymore.” The bartender thinks one of the brothers must have died. Several months later, the Irishman returns to the bar and asks for only two pints. “Oh,” says the Irishman, “these two are for my brothers we promised we’d drink together when we were alone.” The bartender asks why he’s taking one sip from each. To illustrate the Law of Noncontradiction, which says nothing can both be so and not be so at the same time, the authors tell this story….Īn Irishman orders three pints of Guinnes, takes just one sip from each, and then repeats. Think you can’t comprehend metaphysics, logic, existentialism, rationalism think again. Plato and Platypus explores serious human questions in a way that one not only understands them, but also embraces them with humor and intelligibility. The pages are simply a hoot, laugh-out-loud entertainment while also being a crash course in a subject you probably thought your could never fathom.

In here too are some of life’s greatest lessons made comprehensible and laughable by two very clever authors. Actually, this non-fiction best seller is really a thought provoking, sophisticated jester of a book with a byproduct: understanding the great thinkers of the world as never before. If you never cared to read a philosophy book, but wondered about the BIG QUESTIONS this is the book for you. And for the second time in my life, I am enjoying philosophy, with humor to boot. But, alas decades later, I hold in my hand, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein, a New York Times bestseller about understanding philosophy through stories and jokes. Trying to grasp the perplexing questions of life like, “Why are we here?” and “What’s it all about?” hardly seemed a subject for humor. analyzed and interpreted by the super thinkers in history like Aristotle, Plato, Marx, Sartre, and Kierkegaard seemed anything but humorous. Metaphysics, logic, rationalism and existentialism etc.

Being a Philosophy major in college, I never thought there was anything funny about the subject of philosophy.

Plato and platypus walk into a bar review