It’s Funny ‘Cause It’s True (Henrigillis and Gimbel)

It’s Funny ‘Cause It’s True is an introductory text in philosophy exploring logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics through questions in the philosophy of humor. Subfields receive a substantive introduction with interactive essays written to be accessible to undergraduates.

Two philosophers walk into a bar. If they weren’t so lost in thought, they would have seen the bar before they walked into it. That is the stereotype of the philosopher: head in the clouds, detached from reality, overthinking everything and thereby doing stupid stuff no normal person would ever do. This stereotype is not entirely true….not entirely.

Now, it is true that philosophers do think differently about things, but that is because they often do something that is quite abnormal – they think about things. Most of us go through life just accepting things the way that they are. Indeed, whenever someone suggests changing things – even if it would be a change to our benefit – we naturally become agitated and try to stop the change. Humans are wired that way. And THAT is one of the reasons why philosophers are so darned annoying. (…one of the reasons.)

Philosophers ask “why?” about things that everyone else simply accepts. We don’t defer to tradition. We don’t defer to power. We don’t defer to laziness. We authentically want to know why and whether there could be another way of thinking about things.

An old friend once said that if you ask “why?” once – “why is the sky blue?”, “why do we have two arms?”, “why do we think we know more about things we actually know less about?” – then you are a scientist. If you ask “why?” twice – “why is that the answer?”, “why is that how we go about determining the answer?”, “why do we all think that?” – now you are a philosopher. If you ask “why?” more than twice, then you are just a three-year-old annoying your mother. Philosophy is the study of the second “why?” questions.

If you believe that, YOU are wrong. Philosophy is not just about believing whatever you happen to believe. It is about determining what reasons we have in support of various beliefs. Philosophy is about rational belief, that is, figuring out why we should believe claims we may or may not want to believe. It is the giving of strong reasons in support of our beliefs that makes it philosophy. While philosophy may force you to challenge some of the things you believe (even things you believe deeply), it will bolster other beliefs by showing you not only that you do believe it, but why you should believe it. If you simply want to spout unsupported opinions…that’s why we invented the internet. If you want to question your beliefs, if you want to determine whether there are legitimate grounds for believing what you believe, if you want to subject each and every one of your beliefs to rigorous critical scrutiny, then you are philosopher.