Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar - Cathcart & Klein (Big Papi) Audio Book 2007 Philosophy Humor

By John Zxerce

The Roman satirist Juvenal famously quipped "Difficile est saturam non scibere" -- it's difficult not to write satire. It was difficult nearly two millennia ago, and Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein prove it still is today.

Satire provides a profound examination of an idea. Aristotle wrote "Humor is the only test of gravity, for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit."

It's been said he identified a very compelling reason for using humor: it's a test of ideas. Humor is a challenge to the very core of an idea -- its gravity, its seriousness. If an idea can't withstand humor it will crumble under intellectual scrutiny.

In a section on Aristotle contrasting between "essential" and "accidental" properties, Cathcar and Klein offer this illustrative joke:

< As he lay dying, he cried out, "God, how could you do this to me?"

And a voice from the heavens responded: "To tell you the truth, Thompson, I didn't recognize you." >>

We laugh - why? The answer to the question 'why' gives us understanding about philosophy, ourselves, and the world around us.