This New York Times bestseller is the hilarious philosophy course everyone wishes they'd had in school.
Outrageously funny, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... has been a breakout bestseller ever since authors--and born vaudevillians--Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein did their schtick on NPR's Weekend Edition. Lively, original, and powerfully informative, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar... is a not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical thinkers and traditions, from Existentialism (What do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common?) to Logic (Sherlock Holmes never deduced anything). Philosophy 101 for those who like to take the heavy stuff lightly, this is a joy to read--and finally, it all makes sense And now, you can read Daniel Klein's further musings on life and philosophy in Travels with Epicurus and Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change it.A trolley is careering out of control. Up ahead are five workers; on a spur to the right stands a lone individual. You, a bystander, happen to be standing next to a switch that could divert the trolley, which would save the five, but sacrifice the one--do you pull it? Or say you're watching from an overpass. The only way to save the workers is to drop a heavy object in the trolley's path. And you're standing next to a really fat man....
This ethical conundrum--based on British philosopher Philippa Foot's 1967 thought experiment--has inspired decades of lively argument around the world. Now Thomas Cathcart, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, brings his sharp intelligence, quirky humor, and gift for popularizing serious ideas to the trolley problem. Framing the issue as a possible crime that is to be tried in the Court of Public Opinion, Cathcart explores philosophy and ethics, intuition and logic. Along the way he makes connections to the Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham, Kant's limits of reason, St. Thomas Aquinas's fascinating Principle of Double Effect, and more.
Read with an open mind, this provocative book will challenge your deepest held notions of right and wrong. Would you divert the trolley? Kill one to save five? Would you throw the fat man off the bridge?
Is the Western world really post-Christian, or does Christianity simply need a reinterpretation? What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer mean by religionless Christianity? Is it passé? Or was it perhaps ahead of its time? In an era of dramatically increased religious pluralism and the emergence of large numbers of people identifying as spiritual but not religious, so-called religionless Christianity can speak to those who find both biblicism and belief-based religion irrelevant. In this personal, witty, and timely book, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Cathcart takes readers on a journey into belief and unbelief and leads them through to the other side. Drawing from deep philosophical and theological wells, There Is No God and Mary Is His Mother demonstrates the meaningfulness of being a Christian in a secular age. Cathcart shows that, even absent traditional theological formulas and doctrines, Christianity can be a credible, meaningful, and practical means of negotiating worldly existence and experience. For Christians, There Is No God and Mary Is His Mother offers encouragement. For ex-Christians, it presents a different way of being a Christian than the one they've rejected. For atheists, it shows how Christianity can be an ally in affirming the here and now. Religionless Christianity is possible and desirable wherever and whenever it awakens personal and social transformation.
Q. Why are there almost as many jokes about death as there are about sex?
A. Because they both scare the pants off us. Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein first made a name for themselves with the outrageously funny New York Times bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar.... Now they turn their attention to the Big D and share the timeless wisdom of the great philosophers, theologians, psychotherapists, and wiseguys. From angels to zombies and everything in between, Cathcart and Klein offer a fearless and irreverent history of how we approach death, why we embrace life, and whether there really is a hereafter. As hilarious as it is enlightening, Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates is a must-read for anyone and everyone who ever expects to die. And now, you can read Daniel Klein's further musings on life and philosophy in Travels with Epicurus and Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change it.