Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Aristotle and and Aardvark

A year or so ago I read Plato and a Platypus and really enjoyed it. I thought that using jokes and then explaining the philosophy behind why they were funny was a great introduction to philosophy. I now find that many of the jokes are even funnier after reading the book. Plato and a Platypus should be required reading in conjunction with a PHIL 101 course.
So when I saw that Cathcart and Klien had another book, this one about politics, I rushed out to get it. Aristotle and an Aardvark followed right in line with Plato and a Platypus and used jokes to explain a lot of what goes on with our elected officials. I was a little disappointed at first. I was expecting this book to be equally supportive of an introduction to political science class as the first book was to philosophy. I enjoyed reading the book but the topic leaned more towards a critical thinking course. Rather than explain the different types of government through jokes they criticized statements and jokes made by politicians and then showed the logical hopscotch that they were employing in order to persuade you their way. In many ways I liked it better than I would have a book about the political theory. Identifying logical fallacies has always been a pet favorite of mine.

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