Friday, August 1, 2008

Philosophical Jokes

8/1/08. The best philosophical jokes tend to be about the persistent incomprehensibilities, says joke historian Jim Holt*.

The deepest and darkest philosophical question according to philosopher Martin Heidegger is:

Why is there something rather than nothing?

When asked this question a few years back, the Columbia University philosopher Arthur Danto replied, "Who says there's not nothing?"

Sidney Morgenbesser, another Columbia philosopher and noted kibitzer had an even better response when a student asked him, Why is there something rather than nothing? --- Morgenbesser quipped, "Even if there was nothing, you still wouldn't be satisfied!"


* From: Holt, Jim. "Stop Me If You've Heard This. A History and Philosophy of Jokes."

No comments: