The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy

by Michael F. Patton, Kevin Cannon

Philosophy like you've never seen it before

The latest in the celebrated Cartoon Introduction series, The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy is an authoritative and engaging guide to the fundamental questions about our existence. In this indispensable primer, Kevin Cannon—one of the talented illustrators behind Evolution and The Stuff of Life—and the philosopher Michael F. Patton introduce the wisecracking Greek Heraclitus, who hops in a canoe with us as we navigate the great debates of Western thought. As we make our way down the winding river of philosophy, we meet the pre-Socratics, who first questioned mythology and wondered about the world around them; encounter the disciplines of logic, perception, and epistemology; face the central problem of free will; and witness historic arguments over the existence of God. Along the way, famous thinkers like René Descartes and Immanuel Kant spell out their work in clear, lighthearted conversations that will put readers at ease.
Patton's prose, combined with Cannon's rich artistry, puts the fun back into the quest for fundamental truths, imparting the love of wisdom to anyone willing to grab a paddle and join the ride. A rich combination of education and entertainment, The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy is a must-have book for students and professors alike.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Comics, History, Education, Bande Dessinée

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2015

Reviews

[Tony Vacation · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why is an introduction to philosophy important? Simply enough it is an introduction to thinking logically about what you as an individual actually believe when it comes to topics such as God, free will, ethics and even your own mind. Michael Patton and Kevin Cannon's Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy covers each of these topics, including a chapter on logic itself, by dipping the adventurous reader's toes into the works of some of Western Civilization's premier thinkers. All of this is achieved through a light-hearted canoe ride down the river of knowledge with Heraclitus doing double duty as guide and paddler. Along the way he gives the reader the broad-strokes of Western thought by enlisting the help of lively animated renditions of personalities such as Kant, Plato, Hume, Spinoza, Locke - even Nietzsche can be found skulking about like a goth kid. In no way a chronological account of the discipline, Patton does one better by showcasing the back-and-forth conversational nature between the texts and ideas that continually shaped art, governments, laws, sciences and mathematics over the past give-or-take 3000 years. I imagine this book would make for a fun, accessible text for the many virgin thinkers bumbling their way into their first freshman philosophy course. And as Heraclitus points out in the introduction to the book, philosophers depend heavily on metaphors and hypothetical scenarios to explain their reasoning, so bringing the field of study to a visual medium feels axiomatic. Even though much of the subject matter was familiar to me, the crisp artwork and humorous dialogues between the philosophers made for an entertaining and intellectually meaty read. Very well done.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this cartoon introduction to philosophy. The explanations were easy to understand and the drawings helped tell the story. I could see this book being useful to a student in an intro philosophy class who wanted a quick overview of the field. Recommended.

Favorite Quote
"We've learned that there is no convincing account of what free will is or how we can have it. But that doesn't change the fact that we're all members of society, so there's only one reasonable way to move forward: We need to ACT like we're free. We need to treat others with KINDNESS, to strive to be BETTER ourselves -- in essence, to act like the free agents we believe we are."

[Jerecho · Rating 3 out of 5]

My copy is unreadable. Maybe I will change my ereader just for this one so that I can give it a fair review and rating. 3⭐️ for I based it with other reviews. And it seems like it is under my score of average. ✌🏻️✌🏻♥️😊

[Rafa · Rating 5 out of 5]

De haber tenido este cómic hace 10 años lo mismo ahora en vez de ser un informático desgraciado sería un filósofo desgraciado.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Siempre me ha gustado la filosofía y leer sobre filósofos y sus teorías. Desde que terminé la universidad no había vuelto a leer filosofía y, cuando intentaba adentrarme en algún libro, me daba cuenta de que había perdido la práctica de leer filosofía de una forma tan densa.
Así que cuando vi este libro me pareció la forma perfecta de volver a adentrarme en la filosofía de una forma amena, de recordar las ideas básicas de los temas y filósofos más importantes y así después poder leer otras cosas más densas. En ese aspecto el libro ha sido todo un acierto. El hecho de que sea una novela gráfica hace que la lectura sea fácil, rápida y muy amena. Habla de algunos de los debates más importantes de la filosofía como lo son la epistemología, la mente o el libre albedrío. Y para esto introduce a muchos de los grandes filósofos. Y filósofos en masculino es la palabra adecuada porque, aunque el libro nos deja claro que también ha habido en la historia muchas mujeres filósofas, solo se iba a centrar en los filósofos "mainstream" por así decirlo. Lo entiendo puesto que es un libro corto que pretende ser una introducción a la filosofía pero me hubiese gustado que nos mostrase algunos puntos de vista menos famosos.
Además, cuando introduce a cada uno de los filósofos, lo hace con una ficha en la cual nos presenta un hecho curioso de cada uno de ellos. Esto me pareció un detalle muy guay porque la mayoría de ellos eran hechos que desconocía y que me resultaron muy curiosos.

Así que si, como yo, ya conocéis los principales debates filosóficos y queréis un libro que os ayude a recordar o a dar un repaso, este es un libro que os servirá mucho y que os resultará muy ameno y entretenido.

El motivo por el cual le he dado 3.5 estrellas y no más es porque este libro, la idea, me parecía muy útil para personas que no saben demasiado de filosofía y quieren introducirse en el mundo. Este libro les aportaría los conocimientos básicos necesarios para integrarse en el debate. Pero aunque los primeros capítulos me parecieron explicados de manera bastante sencilla y concisa (todo lo concisa que puede ser la filosofía), conforme el libro avanzaba los capítulos se iban complicando.
Por ejemplo al hablar del libre albedrío me parece que los argumentos de un lado y de otro son bastante complicados de entender. El libro intentaba reducir al máximo las premisas y presentarnos solo lo "esencial" sin embargo esto, a menudo, en lugar de simplificar complicaba las cosas. Cuando intentan reducir al mínimo un debate tan complejo, los argumentos no se entienden mejor sino peor. A menudo me costaba seguir estos puntos y me daba cuenta de cómo alguien que no esté familiarizado con el debate podría fácilmente perderse y por lo tanto perder el interés en seguir leyendo.

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[Effie (she-her) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μια εισαγωγή στις βασικές φιλοσοφικές ιδέες του Ευρωπαϊκού κόσμου από την αρχαιότητα μέχρι τον εικοστό αιώνα σε μορφή κόμικ.

Ο Μάικλ Πάτον και ο Κέβιν Κάνον μας προσφέρουν με έξυπνο τρόπο μια ιστορική αναδρομή στις φιλοσοφικές αντιλήψεις της Ευρώπης.

Διαβάστε περισσότερα στο blog μου.

[Kiet Huynh]

Khá hay. Nội dung phổ quát triết học phương Tây từ thời khai sơ đến các triết gia thế kỷ XIX như Friedrich Nietzsche, từ nhận thức trong con người đến nhận thức vị trí con người với xã hội. Hơi khó hiểu nhưng chắc đây là kiểu viết đơn giản nhất trong triết học rồi.
Hình vẽ đẹp, đẹp nhất trong bộ, vẽ hình triết gia ông nào ra ông nấy.
Hãy đọc nếu bạn là thằng não phải!

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo más destacado de la filosofía explicado de forma sencilla pero con sustancia. Me quedo con las ganas de darle las cinco estrellas de lo mucho que me ha gustado.

[Zawani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bacaan santai yang tak berapa nak santai. Haha.

Cara penceritaan sejarah dan serba sedikit idea falsafah barat yang digarap di dalam komik ini agak menarik. Pembaca dibawa oleh Heraclitus mengembara sungai panjang falsafah yang merangkumi enam bahagian; logik, persepsi, fikiran (minds), kehendak diri (free will), ketuhanan dan etika. Ketika berhenti di setiap perhentian, pembaca diperkenalkan dengan ahli falsafah barat serta sedikit idea dan maha karya mereka. Selain itu, diselitkan juga beberapa argumentasi beberapa ahli falsafah barat berkenaan premis yang sama.

Carta masa sejarah falsafah barat juga turut disertakan bermula daripada pra-sejarah falsafah barat-Thales sehinggalah abad ke-19-Nietzsche dan ini memudahkan pembaca untuk mengkoordinat tahap pembacaan. Akan tetapi, idea falsafah yang dilakar di dalam komik ini hanyalah bersifat atas air semata. Dan sudah pasti pembacaan lanjut karya-karya yang lain diperlukan untuk lebih memahami falsafah.

Menurut Heraclitus, falsafah adalah proses mengejar hikmah (pursuit of wisdom) dan untuk mempelajari falsafah tidak cukup hanya dengan membaca karya falsafah sebaliknya perlu keluar dan melihat dunia, menjawab persoalan tentang kehidupan serta melihat pandangan orang lain tentang falsafah. Di dalam falsafah terangkum semua ilmu tentang dunia termasuk sains, dan selalunya falsafah itu menjelaskan hal-hal keduniaan secara metafora dan analogi (natural). Dan 'kebenaran' di dalam falsafah sentiasa berubah-ubah mengikut premis dan hujah.

'Upon those who step into the same rivers, different and again different waters flow' -Heraclitus
Sesiapa sahaja yang menelusuri sungai yang sama, sudah pasti tidak akan merasai aliran air yang sama.

[Danika at The Lesbrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the very basics of the big names/ideas in the philosophy "canon." I'm trying to plan a philosophy unit as part of an English class, and I was hoping there was more that I could use in class. It also acknowledges that because it's the canon, it's all European guys. I'll have to keep looking for accessible philosophy books that include Eastern and international philosophy.

[Huy Vu · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good start for a beginner to get to know about philosophy, famous philosophers.
The book could be easily and interestingly finished in 2-3 hours.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where was this when I was homeschooling?!? What a great introduction for children or adults into the various nuisances of philosophy. The cartoon were simple, the time line was a great help, and the analogies were a big help. I felt there were too many names introduced in this short graphic book. But what a great resource.

[Guan Jie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The word philosophy holds stereotypes such as being a abstract and murky subject that offers no practical value to daily life which can only be learned by a select few people. This comic goes against that notion by offering the basic introduction to philosophy in an easy to digest manner, assisted by its humor and relevant examples.

The first few chapters of the comic on metaphysics and such concurred with the abstract subject stereotype, but the latter half of the comic on God and Ethics was much more applicable to daily life. Its made me ponder and reconsider my own beliefs and judgments (which I use daily) and most importantly, it keeps reminding the reader that philosophy is a fluid subject; anyone can join the discourse and strive for a better way to live.

Grade: A-
Note that this book only covers Western philosophy though.

[Sonic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhhhhhhhhh, on the whole, I guess I, *sigh* liked it, but

to be honest,

it kinda pissed me off too.

I know that sounds extreme, but I think that some generalizations and over-simplifications kinda, ... miss the point.

(completely at worst,
and maybe offer a dumbed-down primitive not-so-respectful glossing at best.)

But that is not to say they did not convey some ideas okay.

And it did have it's moments,
but the portrayal of Heraclitus as a grinning idiot throughout really got on my nerves.

That was just, ... wrong.

[Alvaro Mateu · Rating 2 out of 5]

La idea es buena pero el resultado no me ha llegado a convencer.

Entiendo que es un cómic pero el contenido termina siendo extremadamente simplista y superficial. Para este formato quizás habría sido más útil reducir el número de filósofos y profundizar un poco más en el pensamiento de cada uno.

En teoría es un libro de introducción pero se termina convirtiendo en un batiburrillo de ideas y autores que impide que un lector no iniciado en filosofía pueda extraer conceptos básicos de una forma clara.

En mi opinión es mucho más divertido y didáctico El mundo de Sofía (en el que claramente se han basado los autores de este cómic)

2/5

[Zizeloni · Rating 4 out of 5]

readathon17 book 36: a non-fiction book

The title says it all. An introduction to pholosophy throught cartoons. Ancient Greek philosophers, British philosophers of 1600-1800, and even more modern like Turing and even Chalmers are being introduced.

It is of course a very small introduction of the main philosophical ideas, but I think it was very well structured (not chronologically, but according to theories). Suitable for beginners.
And translated to greek, look it up!

[Phiến Phiến · Rating 4 out of 5]

Đọc vui thật đấy những vẫn phải thừa nhận sự khó nhằn của triết học (hoặc do đầu óc mình hạn chế)

[Ira Osipkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[Sergio Gianazza · Rating 4 out of 5]

No tan bueno como las explicaciones de Tute, pero interesante para alguien como yo que no sabe una goma de filosofía.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5

[Duc Hoang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuốn sách đọc xong đầu tiên của năm 2017, nội dung cũng khá quen thuộc nên đọc dễ với mình, không biết với những bạn chưa có khái niệm về triết học sẽ thấy như thế nào, có một số ý tưởng được đưa ra chỉ trong vài khung truyện có lẽ cũng khó nắm bắt với một số bạn mới làm quen. Sách viết dưới dạng truyện tranh với nét vẽ châm biếm (chứ không hẳn là biếm họa), nên khá gần gũi sinh động. Gói gọn cả hệ thống tư tưởng triết học Tây phương trong vòng già trăm rưỡi trang sách cũng là một việc khó nhằn, chưa kể phần chữ chắc chỉ đủ kín độ chục trang là cùng, nhưng hai tác giả đã làm được, dĩ nhiên với một vài đánh đổi. Với chủ đề và thể loại phương tiện này, khó có thể đòi hỏi gì hơn, người đọc hoàn toàn có thể đọc tiếp các tác phẩm "làm quen" khác, nhiều chữ nhiều hình hơn như bộ Nhập môn của Trẻ, hay chỉ toàn chữ như bộ A Very Short Introduction của Oxford, yêu cầu chỉ cần có một chút kiên nhẫn, một sự hiếu kỳ, và nắm một số khái niệm từ vựng căn bản là đủ.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toto je presne to, čo mi chýbalo na maturite - vtipne a jasne vysvetlená filozofia.
Veľmi oceňujem plynulé prechody medzi jednotlivými filozofickými smermi a tiež samotné grafické spracovanie.
Celou knihou čitateľa sprevádza jeden filozof, ktorý po svojej ceste stretáva dalších filozofov a vedu spolu diskusie na rôzne témy a samozrejme sa hlavne dotýkajú tých, ktorým sa v živote venovali. Vždy pri stretnutí nového filozofa, je o ňom napísaných pár vecičiek plus nejaký jeho známy výrok.

Avšak som sa nemohla ubrániť pocitu, že toto tvoril človek, ktorý ma problém s veriacimi ľudmi - obecne je asi jedno v aké božstvo, ale celý čas som z drobných narážok mala dojem, že pán autor sa nevie trošku odosobniť. A že ma tak trochu rád Nietzscheho - preto ho dal (podľa mña úplne zbytočne na koniec a vlastne sme sa nič dôležité o ňom nedozvedeli, teda okrem toho, že jeho sestra prepisovala jeho diela, tak aby vyhovovali nacistom ehm!...)

[David Arceo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very instructive and educational comic that deploys a very good summary of different trends, theories, approaches and people who build the WESTERN philosophy as some people understand it.
The author is very biased against religion, trying to convince the reader and making fun of all the authors with whom he disagrees, despite that fact the book is quite good. The author is just a university teacher, he is clearly not a researcher or at least is not trying to present this work as an academic publication, or it is clearly not aimed to the academic readers.
Therefore his prejudices will be present along the entire book, for instance, in the drawings of the authors we wants to make fun of, if you can tolerate this, then it is a good book to withdraw from a library, or as an invisible-friend gift.

[Zuzana Dankic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spracovanie sa mi pacilo. Bolo to pre mna pristupnejsie zoznamit sa s filozofickymi smermi a pochybnostami a vsetkymi tymi zakutiami - Preco? Ako? Urcite to je takto? - takymto sposobom.
Pochopila som na jednoduchych obrazkoch, cim sa zaoberali tito pre mna nedosiahnutelni machri a na prehlad mi to uplne stacilo. Uz som o tom pocula a citala, ale tu to bolo velmi pekne zhrnute a okrem toho, ze obrazky napomahali pochopeniu, boli aj vtipne :) Takze to nebola nuda. V kazdom pripade je mi to jasne, aj bez kristalovej gule, ze aj ked sa rada rypem v tom, aky ma zmysel tento zivot, tak kopat tak hlboko ako filozofovia nepotrebujem :D Takze diky pan Patton, tymto som si filozofiu na chvilku odfajkla :D

[Subidaenlasestrellas · Rating 3 out of 5]

La filosofía y yo nos llevamos regular. Regular tirando a mal. Cosas de que en el instituto la redujeran a poco más que meterte a empujones un montón de moralina cristiana, que a mí me interesaba lo justo, y aquí estamos muchos años después.

Este cómic es una introducción a la historia del pensamiento filosófico occidental abordando los grandes temas y como han sido tratados por algunos de los filósofos más importantes.

Quizás la pega que le pongo es que se queda demasiado en la superficie, y que habría sido muy guay seis tomos de este tamaño, uno por temática tratada.

Si en el instituto me hubieran introducido la asignatura con esto, igual la cosa habría sido distinta.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a surprisingly fun book. I don't spend much time considering philosophy, so the names of the people mentioned were largely unknown to me. However, I felt like the concepts were really well-explained and contrasted in multiple forms, so I understood a lot of new ideas by the end.

The organization of the book is cool. There are six chapters: logic, perception, minds, free will, God, and ethics. This means ideas don't have to be shown in chronological order, just grouped by type. This whole approach was really welcoming and I hope more topics will adopt this method of instruction.

[Nguyên ngộ ngộ · Rating 5 out of 5]

the reason why I read this kind of book is to sharpen our mind
I am not going to become a great philosophier, but during reading and thinking and understanding their philosophy we can enhance our deep thinking ability.
the difference between math and philosophy
The first one
in math, they explain based on the numbers
in philosophy, based on the verbal, words
The second one
in math, the newer people used results, achievement of former one
but in philosophy,
the newer one usually argued against the former one.
I think so
this kind of book is really interesting to sharpen our mind

[Rafaila · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an actual comic book, going through an introduction on the main principles of philosophy and discussing selected philosophers and their theories in different philosophy fields. Heraclitus (i.e. ancient Greek philosopher) is the main character/narrator of the book and meets with the different philosophers and there are actual discussions between them despite the (obvious) timing inconsistency. Seeing philosophers from completely different ages discussing among themselves was absolutely delightful for me!

Obviously the book is not a thorough review of the history of philosophy, it's way too thin for that (although if they decided to go for that I would be the first to buy all the volumes :D). Nevertheless, I loved the fact that they chose to go deeper to some theories and philosophers rather than browsing more of them, going for quality over quantity. I think otherwise the book would be mych harder to follow and at the same time the acquired knowledge would only be skin deep.

I don't in any way consider myself a philosophy expert (or even knowledgable on the field) so I can only judge from the perspective of the naive reader, but I strongly believe that the book makes a pretty good introduction on philosophy. Personally I chose to go deeper, I read it twice and then looked up the philosophers one by one using Η φιλοσοφία με απλα λόγια (surprisingly in many occations the comic book contained more info for certain philosophers/subjects!). Also not an expert on that, but I think the book is kids friendly (speaking of kids above a certain age e.g. young teenagers).

Finally - because after all it is a comic book! - I found the design and drawings very beautiful. I would definitely recommend it and would (actually might) read it again!

[banh ran zon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nhận ra được vẻ đẹp của triết học không đồng nghĩa với việc cố gắng tìm đọc nó. Lúc chả may có được quyển này thực sự mình cũng không tự tin cho lắm, sợ quá sức, sợ không hiểu, sợ mất thời gian. Nhưng lối vẽ và cách diễn đạt rất tốt, thậm trí còn truyền cảm hứng muốn tìm hiểu thêm nữa về triết học (hăm hở muốn chạy ra hiệu sách mua cả tá luôn dù chưa đọc hết quyển này). Hóa ra từ trước đến nay, các bài viết mình đọc về khoa học vũ trụ, về sinh học phân tử, về tiến hóa... chỉ là một phần nhỏ của triết học, và những bài viết đấy lại do những người thuộc các trường phải triết học khác nhau viết. Hơn nữa , tất cả những cái đấy chỉ là giả định, đều đã được những tư tưởng khác đặt câu hỏi nghi vấn ngược lại. Trong triết học không có gì là đúng hoàn toàn, đúng như câu mọi thứ quanh ta đều thay đổi liên tục và thay đổi là điều bất biến duy nhất. Nể phục các triết gia, bộ óc của họ sao có thể sinh ra những nhận thức, những tư tưởng vượt xa khỏi thực tại nhiều đến thế? T__T Càng đọc mới càng thấy mình nhỏ bé và ngu si thế nào trước cái vũ trụ tri thức bao la kia. Đọc quyển này lại nhớ ra ra cái thứ triết học được dạy hồi đại học sao lại khô khan, chán ngán đến thế cơ chứ ? Họ bất lực trong việc chỉ ra tầm quan trọng của triết học. Theo mình hiểu thì triết học chính là cái khung, cái sườn, cái nền tảng để tìm hiểu xa hơn ra những tri thức khác. Nắm được nó thì mình sẽ hiểu được tổng thể, chứ không bơi lóp ngóp không định hướng trong một biển tri thức không biết đâu là bến bờ.

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pokud vás zajímá filosofie, ale nevíte, kde chcete začít (a rozhodně nechcete začínat čtením Ústavy nebo Metafyzickým pojednáním), Komiksová filosofie je skvělou volbou. Knížku mi půjčil kamarád studující ve volném čase filosofii a přestože informace v ní obsažené pro mě nebyly vyloženě nové (jsou to opravdu ty základy), myslím si, že měla i tak velkou přidanou hodnotu. Jednak forma komiksu byla zajímavá, spousta metafor, kterým "my mladí" rozumíme (i když to mě spíš někdy štvalo, protože mi to přišlo zbytečné...), ale především neobvyklá struktura celého "příběhu". Většinou se při učení filosofie postupuje chronologicky - dává to smysl, protože na sebe filosofové myšlenkově navazují. Jenže k čemu je umět vyjmenovat nejslavnější filosofy ve správném pořadí, když jim nepřiřadíte jejich myšlenky?
Komiksová filosofie je rozdělena do šesti kapitol - Logika, Vnímání, Mysl, Svobodná vůle, Bůh a Etika. Na plavbě řekou poznání nás neprovází nikdo jiný než Hérakleitos. Pokládá otázky a setkává se s významnými filosofy, kteří mu pomáhají hledat možné odpovědi. Hodně mě zaujala problematika svobodné vůle - a jestli ji vůbec máme. Tedy, pokud vůbec existujeme, že. :)