5 philosophy jokes that will actually teach you something

Jokes so cheesy even French philosophers will love them.

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  • Philosophy can be difficult to understand, but humor can be a great way to approach it.
  • Each of these jokes includes an explanation, so you can learn what they mean if you don't quite get them.
  • Side effects of these jokes may include a sense of humor so dry it disproves Thales.
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Personal Growth

There are 2 types of god. Only one is within the boundary of science.

Does God exist? The answer rests outside the "normal" boundaries of science.

  • Science is about natural law, while religion is about ethics. As long as you keep these two separate, Kaku says, there's no problem at all. Problems arise, however, when the natural sciences begin to "pontificate upon ethics" and when religious people begin to pontificate about natural law.
  • Albert Einstein believed in the "god of Spinoza" — not a personal god, but one who has set order and harmony in the fabric of the universe. "You can put the laws of physics as we know them on a simple sheet of paper — amazing! It didn't have to be that way," says Kaku.
  • The existence of God is not testable because such a review is not reproducible or falsifiable, as most scientific investigations are. In this sense, Kaku says the question and answer whether God exists rests outside the "normal" boundaries of science.
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Videos

God is not a man with a beard on a throne in the clouds

Symbols are often used to help people get an idea of higher, often ineffable, truths.

  • A good story has the ability to transform its readers — it speaks to our psyche, and, in doing so, has the ability to change how we perceive the world.
  • When trying to understand the adherents of the world's major religions, Joseph Campbell advises to try to look at mystical experiences through the lens of the founders. In doing so, we can better understand the context of their messaging.
  • When we talk about God as an old man on a throne in the clouds, when seen as a metaphor, the imagery helps us understand the divine — the beard expresses great age, the throne symbolizes its supremacy, and the clouds signify that it presides over all of us.
christianity religion faith spirituality islam buddhism personal growth god humor comedy self pete holme
Videos

Why sexuality and spirituality belong together

Comedian Pete Holmes details his struggle with faith, sex, and God.

  • Comedian and writer Pete Holmes explains how he lost his faith after a long struggle with what he calls his Christian, puritanical, shame psychology.
  • Holmes found the antidote to internalized shame was 'thoughtless, irrational love'. Love should be as indiscriminate as light, he says. Many people only give conditional love to themselves and others.
  • Sexuality is not a mistake, says Holmes. Pretending to be pure by saying frack instead of fuck, and not seeing R-rated movies and being really "nice" is not what a connection to the divine is about.
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christianity religion faith spirituality personal growth sexuality god humanity humor comedy sex
Videos

Alan Watts: What is the self?

Self defined not as individual ego, but the whole universe.

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  • Alan Watts believed that we can comprehend a greater sense of the self.
  • The self is not alienated from the universe, but a part of the whole process.
  • Scientists have conceptualized a similar idea that sounds like it's straight out of the Indian Vedanta.
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Culture & Religion