Philosophy through Humour in "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar"

If I had read Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas W. Cathcart and Daniel M. Klein just shy of 2 years ago, I wouldn't have appreciated and enjoyed the book as much.

2 years ago, before I had the opportunity to sit through months of theology classes with Moral Theologian Fr. David García from the Dominican order, I was an absolute philosophy nut. It didn't help that a good majority of my classmates were brainiacs in the law and medical profession. They were asking the most intellectual and mind provoking questions! Figuring out why I thought what I thought was never really in my agenda. Perhaps not in a mindful way. Somewhere along the studies of moralities and ethics and the need to rationalise complex arguments, I was inevitably drowned into the studies of PHILOSOPHY! A crash course within the first few lessons! I was struggling with philosophers from Aristotle to St. Thomas Aquinas, William Ockham to Rene Descartes to Jeremy Bentham! And as my understanding matured, I really started to appreciate the gift of thinkers gone, present and to come.

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar came into my reading list at the right timing. A book shared by Celeste when she got to learn about my studies in theology. She was spot on when she figured I would enjoy the book. The book presented philosophy in the most light-hearted, hilarious, and utterly amazing way through the conversation between two fictional ancient Greek philosophers; Dimitri and Tasso. Spanning through classic categories of philosophy from Metaphysics to Epistemology to Ethics to Relativity, with concepts explained or illustrated by jokes.

There is a distinction between the telos of life - what human beings are meant to be - and a particular individual's goals in life - what he wants to be.

The optimist says, "The glass is half full." The pessimist says, "The glass is half empty." The rationalist says, "This glass is twice as big as it needs to be"

Without logic, reason is useless. With it, you can win arguments and alienate multitudes.

If a man tries to fail and he succeeds, which did he do?

How do you know that you know the stuff you think you know? Take away the opion of answering, "I just do!" and what's left is epistemology.

Do not do unto others as you would have others do unto you; they may have different taste. - George Bernard Shaw

The problem with German food is that, no matter how much you eat, an hour later you're hungry for power.

There is no way you can read this book and not have a laugh out loud moment every now and then. You'd probably heard a few jokes before but it's still a nice little introduction to a handful of philosophical topics.