I Think, Therefore I Draw: Understanding Philosophy Through Cartoons

by Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein

Overview

A hilarious new exploration of philosophy through cartoons from the duo who brought you the New York Times bestselling Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar...

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien have been thinking deep thoughts and writing jokes for decades, and now they are here to help us understand Philosophy through cartoons, and cartoons through Philosophy. Covering topics as diverse as religion, gender, knowledge, morality, and the meaning of life (or the lack thereof), I Think, Therefore I Draw gives a thorough introduction to all of the major debates in philosophy through history and the present. And since they explain with the help of a selection of some of the smartest cartoonists working today, you'll breeze through these weighty topics as you guffaw and slap your knee.

Cathcart and Klein's Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... and Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates have been a favorite of philosophers and non-philosophers alike for years. Packed with dozens of witty cartoons and loaded with profound philosophical insight, I Think, Therefore I Draw will delight readers and leave them enlightened.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143133025
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/30/2018
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,121,539
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Daniel Klien and Thomas Cathcart studied philosophy together at Harvard in the last millennium. Since then...

Danny has written comedy for Lily Tomlin, Flip Wilson, and others, and published scores of fiction and non-fiction books—from thrillers to entertaining philosophical books, such as his London Times bestseller, Travels with Epicurus, and his most recent book, Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life They Change It.

Tom studied theology and managed health care organizations before linking up with Danny to write Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington, and Heidegger and a Hippo Walk through Those Pearly Gates. He is also the author of The Trolley Problem, or Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the Bridge? an entertaining philosophical look at a tricky ethical conundrum.

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Excerpted from "I Think, Therefore I Draw"
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Copyright © 2018 Thomas Cathcart.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction xiii

I What's It All About, Alfie?: The Meaning of Life 1

II Is It Now Yet?: The Philosophy of Time 17

III Is There Really Any Difference between Girls and Boys?: The New World of Gender Philosophy 33

IV If It Works, It's Right, Right?: The Epistemology of Pragmatism 45

V What Is the Fairest Way to Divvy Up Goods?: Capitalism, Marxism, and Libertarianism 53

VI You Call This Living?: Hedonism, Stoicism, and Mindful Living 65

VII A Technical Question: Is Technology Ruining Humankind?: Artificial Intelligence, Naturalism, Functionalism, and the Concept of Self 79

VIII Is There a Cosmic Scheme, and Who's Asking?: Cosmology and Other Metaphysics 97

IX What Do You Mean, "Mean"?: Language, Truth, and Logic 121

X What Makes You Think You Know What You Think You Know?: Theories of Knowledge 141

XI What's the Best Way to Organize Society, and What's in It for Me?: Social and Political Philosophy 161

XII Who Are You to Question Authority?: The Philosophy of Law and Moral Authority 173

XIII Who Says I'm Responsible?: Determinism, Free Will, and Existentialism 181

XIV What Went Wrong with Right and Wrong?: The Philosophy of Ethical Behavior 189

XV What If Your Right Is My Wrong?: Moral Relativity 207

XVI Is Love All There Is?: Eros and Beyond 219

XVII Why Won't God Tell Us Whether He or She Exists?: Theism, Proofs, and Strategies 235

XVIII Philosophy, Schmolosophy, Who Needs It?: Metaphilosophy 253

Biosketches 261

Acknowledgments 299

Image Credits 301

Editorial Reviews

2018-07-31

From Zeno to Nietzsche, a lighthearted, illustrated romp through philosophical thought.

Cathcart (The Trolley Problem, or Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the Bridge?: A Philosophical Conundrum, 2013, etc.) and Klein (Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It: Wisdom of the Great Philosophers on How to Live, 2015, etc.) once studied philosophy together at Harvard and later teamed up to riff on the subject in Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates (2009). Their latest collaboration takes a cheerful, irreverent look at perennial philosophical questions—e.g., the meaning of life, morality and ethics, theories of knowledge, determinism and free will—as expressed by cartoons. Cartoonists, they agree, "are keen observers of the state of our society, its quirks and ironies," including metaphysical conundrums. In 18 chapters, each headed by a cartoon from the likes of Leo Cullum, Bradford Veley, Aaron Bacall, and George Booth, the authors touch on the ideas of more than 70 philosophers and theorists, including Jacques Derrida, Edmund Husserl, Maimonides, Karl Marx, and René Descartes, "the first modern epistemologist," who asserted that every perception of the world could be doubted except his certainty of himself as thinker. His famous proclamation "I think, therefore I am" informs the book's title. Besides the philosophers, the authors quote frequently from Woody Allen, another deep thinker, who rings in on the philosophy of time ("Time is God's way of keeping everything from happening at once") and the problem of identity ("My one regret in life is that I am not someone else"). An appendix of terse "biosketches" are heavier on anecdote and quirky detail than philosophical explication. Kant, for example, "found social relationships sorely lacking," and Heidegger's "obscurity leaves plenty of room for improvisation in bull sessions." Although Cathcart and Klein admit that they "stretch a connection here and there" between some cartoons and philosophical issues, they do succeed in making philosophy accessible and fun.

Entertaining and slyly illuminating.

Kirkus Reviews

"Daniel Klein and Thomas Cathcart romp through key concepts in western philosophy courtesy of cartoons. . . A perfect dummies' guide for those who like to smile wryly as the gently exercise their brains." —The Age

"Ingeniously conceived. . . [I Think, Therefore I Draw] is an enlightening look at philosophy through the laughs we get from zinger cartoons." —The Berkshire Eagle

"Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein are up to their old tricks. The distinguished gagmen have been cracking serious philosophy jokes since they were classmates at Harvard in the 1960s, and they give signs neither of curtailing their wit nor moderating its wickedness. . . .[I Think Therefore I Draw] transports ordinary laypersons into extraordinary states of wizened enlightenment without the aid of service dogs or mind-altering substances. This feat often requires more than the application of conventional scholarship. Sometimes only a joke will do. . . . I Think, Therefore I Draw is easy to pick up. Not so easy to set down." —The Berkshire Edge

“From Zeno to Nietzsche, a lighthearted, illustrated romp through philosophical thought…. [Cathcart and Klein]  succeed in making philosophy accessible and fun. Entertaining and slyly illuminating.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
Praise for Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...

"[Cathcart and Klein] know their stuff, and wear their learnedness lightly, and Plato and a Platypus is a pleasure to read.…I can't help but love this book, and I have been quoting liberally from it" —Philosophy Now

"A Hoot." —Times Literary Supplement

"What happens when you mix corny jokes, one-liners and vaudeville humour with some of life's great lessons? You get an extraordinary read you'll want to share with as many people as possible." —Orlando Sentinel

“The zaniest bestseller of the year.” —The Boston Globe

“I laughed, I learned, I loved it.” —Roy Blount, Jr.

From the Publisher