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I Think, Therefore I Draw: Understanding Philosophy Through Cartoons
A hilarious new exploration of philosophy through cartoons from the duo who brought you the New York Times bestselling Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar...
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien have been thinking deep thoughts and writing jokes for decades, and now they are here to help us understand Philosophy through cartoons, and cartoons through Philosophy. Covering topics as diverse as religion, gender, knowledge, morality, and the meaning of life (or the lack thereof), I Think, Therefore I Draw gives a thorough introduction to all of the major debates in philosophy through history and the present. And since they explain with the help of a selection of some of the smartest cartoonists working today, you'll breeze through these weighty topics as you guffaw and slap your knee.
Cathcart and Klein's Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... and Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates have been a favorite of philosophers and non-philosophers alike for years. Packed with dozens of witty cartoons and loaded with profound philosophical insight, I Think, Therefore I Draw will delight readers and leave them enlightened.
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien have been thinking deep thoughts and writing jokes for decades, and now they are here to help us understand Philosophy through cartoons, and cartoons through Philosophy. Covering topics as diverse as religion, gender, knowledge, morality, and the meaning of life (or the lack thereof), I Think, Therefore I Draw gives a thorough introduction to all of the major debates in philosophy through history and the present. And since they explain with the help of a selection of some of the smartest cartoonists working today, you'll breeze through these weighty topics as you guffaw and slap your knee.
Cathcart and Klein's Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... and Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates have been a favorite of philosophers and non-philosophers alike for years. Packed with dozens of witty cartoons and loaded with profound philosophical insight, I Think, Therefore I Draw will delight readers and leave them enlightened.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 29, 2018
120 people are currently reading
953 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Cathcart
15 books152 followersThomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein wrote the bestselling Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes, which will be translated into more than a dozen languages. Not bad for a couple of philosophy majors from Harvard who tried on various careers after graduation. Tom worked with street gangs in Chicago, doctors at Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and dropped in and out of divinity schools. Dan has written jokes for various comedians, including Flip Wilson and Lily Tomlin. Tom lives on Cape Cod with his wife. Dan lives in the Berkshires with his wife. Together, they are also authors of the politically incorrect book of daily affirmations Macho Meditations."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
November 28, 2018
Philosophy always seems like a big subject to me, especially when it's written in a second language. However, this book enables me to understand basics of philosophy with modern cartoons. For each piece of cartoon, there is a simple philosophical issue or question involved. Author then uses his witty narration to describe what is portrayed in the cartoon, followed by a right to point elaboration of the philosophical theory. At the end of the book, there is a collection of short biographies of various dominant philosophers in time, giving you a simple crash course on philosophy.
I sincerely adore this book as it approaches a big topic with fun and easy to understand method.
I sincerely adore this book as it approaches a big topic with fun and easy to understand method.
January 15, 2019
Very refreshing and entertaining.
Who knew Metaphilosophy was a thing!
Who knew Metaphilosophy was a thing!
January 20, 2022
It’s cute, it’s funny, it’s a nice little Philosophy’s Greatest Hits in a Nutshell book. But it’s like candy: fun to eat, but not much nutrition. Maybe I’m just an old grump.
FMI see my blog post at A Just Recompense.
FMI see my blog post at A Just Recompense.
September 23, 2022
While it may not delve too in-depth into philosophy, it’s oddly comforting to have topics that are generally so depressing discussed in a light and humorous fashion.
March 29, 2019
3.5
Contrary to expectations, this book shows a cartoon and goes on to explain the cartoon itself using philosophy and not the other way around. So I didn’t find it useful in a philosophical sense to actually learn and connect more concepts. I wanted to use the book to complement some philosophy classes I teach but was unable to because although it’s a light and funny read, it does require some background otherwise the jokes won’t make sense to a beginner.
Overall, good for entertainment and general knowledge, did make me laugh a few times :). 3.5 stars.
Contrary to expectations, this book shows a cartoon and goes on to explain the cartoon itself using philosophy and not the other way around. So I didn’t find it useful in a philosophical sense to actually learn and connect more concepts. I wanted to use the book to complement some philosophy classes I teach but was unable to because although it’s a light and funny read, it does require some background otherwise the jokes won’t make sense to a beginner.
Overall, good for entertainment and general knowledge, did make me laugh a few times :). 3.5 stars.
March 15, 2019
This was a fun, short, easy read. Some of the philosophical points were a bit dry to read through, but overall I found more to like than dislike. It is a very accessible entry into some philosophical ideas that I may be looking more into from other sources.
July 25, 2022
Great compilation of cartoons and the philosophical stories behind them. Each one of the drawings hits you first with their comical side and afterwards it takes you into their deep waters.
Loved it.
Loved it.
April 7, 2019
I've spent my life explaining things with cartoons. Though funny to me, they did not always tickle others funny bones or help the explanation. The problem being, of course, if you have to explain what it means it stops being funny. This book is great, though sometimes there was a tad of too much explanation. I assume that's the problem of philosophy.
January 4, 2021
Initial thoughts: Two days shy of a year — FI-NAL-LY! Yes, it took me that long to read this book cover to cover.
You know that disappointment when you don't want to accept that reality and expectation didn't match up? That's what I felt with I Think, Therefore I Draw. That's also why it took me so long to slog through, even though it wan't by any means a terrible book. I also didn't have much appreciation for the authors' brand of humour.
The writing style was such that the book was meant to be read like a conversation with the authors, which's all well and good when the there's depth to the subject matter. Sadly, rather than a primer to philosophy, I felt like this was merely a preface, and for a preface, 302 pages are way too much.
That being said, I did enjoy the choice of cartoons to illustrate the various philosophical ideas. I also found the biosketches very useful in providing an overview of the philosophers covered in this book. It's sad though that I had to get to the appendix before I started to actually enjoy this book.
You know that disappointment when you don't want to accept that reality and expectation didn't match up? That's what I felt with I Think, Therefore I Draw. That's also why it took me so long to slog through, even though it wan't by any means a terrible book. I also didn't have much appreciation for the authors' brand of humour.
The writing style was such that the book was meant to be read like a conversation with the authors, which's all well and good when the there's depth to the subject matter. Sadly, rather than a primer to philosophy, I felt like this was merely a preface, and for a preface, 302 pages are way too much.
That being said, I did enjoy the choice of cartoons to illustrate the various philosophical ideas. I also found the biosketches very useful in providing an overview of the philosophers covered in this book. It's sad though that I had to get to the appendix before I started to actually enjoy this book.
December 28, 2021
A fun, breezy read about philosophy like the author's famous Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes . This one has cartoons instead of jokes and the cartoons were much better than the jokes.
Also, I liked the lesser known by the same author -> Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between on death much better.
Also, I liked the lesser known by the same author -> Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between on death much better.
November 29, 2021
No es que sea ninguna maravilla, pero cuenta con diferentes viñetas graciosas que ilustran diversos temas filosóficos y, para un público no especializado cumple su función. Da una visión general de la Historia de la filosofía con un tono ameno y divertido.
March 10, 2019
This book was a 100% impulse buy--I saw it in Barnes & Noble and added it to what I was purchasing. It is a short, easy, and enjoyable read.
The format of the book is set up so that a cartoon is presented and then there is a discussion of a one or more philosophers or philosophical schools that is somehow tied back to the meaning of the cartoon. Often it seemed like the philosophical discussion was only vaguely related to the cartoon in question, and the attempts to make the two parts of the book relate to one another sometimes felt forced. Also, the philosophical discussions were at a really broad level.
That said, I give the book 4 stars because the cartoons in it were great. In fact, I will be keeping my copy of the book for awhile because I like the cartoons so much.
The format of the book is set up so that a cartoon is presented and then there is a discussion of a one or more philosophers or philosophical schools that is somehow tied back to the meaning of the cartoon. Often it seemed like the philosophical discussion was only vaguely related to the cartoon in question, and the attempts to make the two parts of the book relate to one another sometimes felt forced. Also, the philosophical discussions were at a really broad level.
That said, I give the book 4 stars because the cartoons in it were great. In fact, I will be keeping my copy of the book for awhile because I like the cartoons so much.
March 2, 2019
Great cartoons with a funny and thought provoking texts.
December 14, 2018
Philosophy is a heavy subject - there's so much to ingest, and almost everything throws you into an existential crisis. Its difficult to find a book that allows you to understand the various concepts of philosophy without it getting too mind boggling. This is one of those books. The authors, philosophers in their own right, take popular cartoons from the last few decades and break them down philosophically.
This was an interesting, if somewhat clinical, read. The cartoons were great, and some of them were instantly understandable, but the added explanations from a philosophical standpoint made them even more special. The explanations, however, tended to get a bit drawn out.
All in all, this was a good, somewhat slow read, that made for a good philosophy primer.
I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in philosophy but conflicted about where to start.
This was an interesting, if somewhat clinical, read. The cartoons were great, and some of them were instantly understandable, but the added explanations from a philosophical standpoint made them even more special. The explanations, however, tended to get a bit drawn out.
All in all, this was a good, somewhat slow read, that made for a good philosophy primer.
I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in philosophy but conflicted about where to start.
February 21, 2019
Loved funny cartoons and useful information that reminded some of the questions.
February 23, 2019
A succinct and engaging way of presenting central philosophical questions and insights. Using the cartoons was a great idea. Each chapter, not more than 3 pages, was easy to read and allowed me the space to ponder.
December 9, 2019
Normally, you don't read a book like this cover to cover. But I did. It's a decent coffee table book or bathroom book. But I found that the mix between philosophy and humor was such that neither the humor nor the philosophy was particularly good.
December 25, 2020
Given I'm not very familiar with philosophy I think this is a good overview of philosophical topics. Each topic is however only very briefly outlined, just enough to start looking for more resources on it. The cartoons make this a light reading.
September 27, 2018
Pretty interesting read. I would recommend it if you want to gain a general awareness of what philosophy is about.
November 25, 2018
too advanced for me
December 25, 2018
Karikatürler, filozofların sayfalarca anlatacağı cümleleri tek bir kareye nasıl sığdırır.. İşte bu kitapla anladım ki, iyi bir karikatür felsefeyi soyuttan somuta ulaştırır.
January 15, 2019
19 - 2019
June 6, 2019
I loved this book. Cartoons are a good way to approach philosophy. I enjoyed reading this book and it is wonderful book to dip into off and on.
February 9, 2021
So many years ago my daughter bought me two books by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein. I know that I learned more about philosophy in those two books than I did getting a BA in Philosophy (apologizes to my favorite philosophy teacher, Dr. Ben Richards). Since then I have read several other books that this pair of Harvard philosophers wrote - both individually and together - and enjoyed them greatly.
I Think, Therefore I Draw is the latest in their series and it could be their best. As a play on Sartre’s, “I think, therefore I am”, Cathcart and Klein become the leading, and only, comic philosophers. In each section they take a one panel cartoon and, in two to three pages, show how it addresses some deep philosophical question. By deep I mean; What’s the Meaning of Life, The New World of Gender Philosophy, Capitalism, Marxism, and Libertarianism, Cosmology and Other Metaphysics, The Philosophy of Law and Moral Authority, Theism, Proofs, and Strategies, Metaphilosophy, and more!
Whether or not the individual cartoonists meant to be this deep, Cathcart and Klein show that each cartoon is worth a semester’s study of one or more schools of Philosophy. Of course, not only is there a lot of knowledge in these pages, there are a lot of jokes, sarcasm, and painful realism.
While Cathcart and Klein, only somewhat facetiously, claim than a degree in philosophy only qualifies you to teach philosophy or work at Starbucks or McDonald’s, this book shows you that philosophy is all about looking deeply at the life in front of you. Socrates said that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Centuries later, Bertrand Russell revisited the same idea with, “Through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great.”
I cannot promise you a great mind after reading this book but it definitely will make you think and laugh. When you think about it, that isn’t such a bad combination.
I Think, Therefore I Draw is the latest in their series and it could be their best. As a play on Sartre’s, “I think, therefore I am”, Cathcart and Klein become the leading, and only, comic philosophers. In each section they take a one panel cartoon and, in two to three pages, show how it addresses some deep philosophical question. By deep I mean; What’s the Meaning of Life, The New World of Gender Philosophy, Capitalism, Marxism, and Libertarianism, Cosmology and Other Metaphysics, The Philosophy of Law and Moral Authority, Theism, Proofs, and Strategies, Metaphilosophy, and more!
Whether or not the individual cartoonists meant to be this deep, Cathcart and Klein show that each cartoon is worth a semester’s study of one or more schools of Philosophy. Of course, not only is there a lot of knowledge in these pages, there are a lot of jokes, sarcasm, and painful realism.
While Cathcart and Klein, only somewhat facetiously, claim than a degree in philosophy only qualifies you to teach philosophy or work at Starbucks or McDonald’s, this book shows you that philosophy is all about looking deeply at the life in front of you. Socrates said that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Centuries later, Bertrand Russell revisited the same idea with, “Through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great.”
I cannot promise you a great mind after reading this book but it definitely will make you think and laugh. When you think about it, that isn’t such a bad combination.
March 5, 2021
Cartoons has always been the most interesting "medium" for me.
You only have one sentence a handful of brush strokes to make your statement, and awe the audience at the same time.
Perhaps the key to all these mind-blowing one liners is this limitation of resources.
Yes, if you have 800 pages to spare, you can talk about "Being and Nothingness" as much as you want. But can you create a gist of it in a corner column of a magazine with 20k less words and 1 extra drawing? Minimalism at work indeed.
This book sees the premise of cartoons, curates them and uses them as a gateway drug to talk about philosophy of things. I say "things", because it covers a huge ground from gender roles to Metaphilosophy. I'll admit some meanings put into the cartoons are a bit of a stretch, but that's the salt an pepper of it.
But fair warning, take this book as a fun introduction to philosophy. Don't expect to learn in depth about a specific subject. That being said, if you wanna start reading about philosophy, this might be a good start. I'm doing the same at the moment, will let you know in 10 years.
I also would like to talk about the last section of the book, namely "Biosketches". It takes a bunch of big thinkers, and in a paragraph or two, talks about their life and thoughts. It is a really good place to look for who to get acquainted further.
Enjoy!
"Wittgenstein once said that a serious and good philosophical work could be written that consisted entirely of jokes.(He was not trying to be funny at the time). Undoubtedly, if Wittgenstein's subscription to 'Punch' hadn't lapsed, he would have featured cartoons in his pronouncement"
You only have one sentence a handful of brush strokes to make your statement, and awe the audience at the same time.
Perhaps the key to all these mind-blowing one liners is this limitation of resources.
Yes, if you have 800 pages to spare, you can talk about "Being and Nothingness" as much as you want. But can you create a gist of it in a corner column of a magazine with 20k less words and 1 extra drawing? Minimalism at work indeed.
This book sees the premise of cartoons, curates them and uses them as a gateway drug to talk about philosophy of things. I say "things", because it covers a huge ground from gender roles to Metaphilosophy. I'll admit some meanings put into the cartoons are a bit of a stretch, but that's the salt an pepper of it.
But fair warning, take this book as a fun introduction to philosophy. Don't expect to learn in depth about a specific subject. That being said, if you wanna start reading about philosophy, this might be a good start. I'm doing the same at the moment, will let you know in 10 years.
I also would like to talk about the last section of the book, namely "Biosketches". It takes a bunch of big thinkers, and in a paragraph or two, talks about their life and thoughts. It is a really good place to look for who to get acquainted further.
Enjoy!
"Wittgenstein once said that a serious and good philosophical work could be written that consisted entirely of jokes.(He was not trying to be funny at the time). Undoubtedly, if Wittgenstein's subscription to 'Punch' hadn't lapsed, he would have featured cartoons in his pronouncement"
December 23, 2020
After some heavy reads, this book was a very welcome change. A very light way to bring the world of philosophy into my brain, with the help of cartoons. I always felt that communicating opinions on complex matter through cartoons was a powerful tool that could assist system change. This power is seen in the fact that people are killed over them..
The writers of this book have done a great job of linking cartoons to different branches of philosophy, that is, if the purpose is to explain those branches of philosophy. In a smooth manner, they guide the reader through several ways of thinking and sketch a broad overview of the thinkers that made to branches come to existence. Whether it is the ancient greek/roman thinkers, or more modern ones.
What I felt the writers did not do, is capture the actual meaning and context of the cartoons themselves. Sometimes I felt that they set out to find cartoons that fit their pre-made list of philosophies, no matter the context they were written in. To me, at times, it obscured what the cartoonist had actually meant to communicate, and were rather used by the writers of the book to toy around. While this is perhaps oke and maybe even desirable to do with cartoons, apply your own meaning, however it felt less of a lesson in cartoons, and more of a lesson in philosophy.
What the book has done, is that is sparked my interest in and introduced me to philosophers and I basically made an extensive list of thinkers that I wish to still read in my lifetime, which that they have introduced to me.
The writers of this book have done a great job of linking cartoons to different branches of philosophy, that is, if the purpose is to explain those branches of philosophy. In a smooth manner, they guide the reader through several ways of thinking and sketch a broad overview of the thinkers that made to branches come to existence. Whether it is the ancient greek/roman thinkers, or more modern ones.
What I felt the writers did not do, is capture the actual meaning and context of the cartoons themselves. Sometimes I felt that they set out to find cartoons that fit their pre-made list of philosophies, no matter the context they were written in. To me, at times, it obscured what the cartoonist had actually meant to communicate, and were rather used by the writers of the book to toy around. While this is perhaps oke and maybe even desirable to do with cartoons, apply your own meaning, however it felt less of a lesson in cartoons, and more of a lesson in philosophy.
What the book has done, is that is sparked my interest in and introduced me to philosophers and I basically made an extensive list of thinkers that I wish to still read in my lifetime, which that they have introduced to me.
August 20, 2020
So, I've really liked all these books-- "Plato and a Platypus...," "Heidigger and a Hippo...," "Aristotle and an Aardvark," and now this.
This wasn't my favorite.
The other three books were focused on jokes (typically fairly bad jokes that made my wife and kids groan when I repeated them over and over again). This one's cartoons. Funny cartoons. Lots of New Yorker stuff.
I expected something more like the other books, but somehow this one is more "surface," if you will. Not that the others did huge deep dives, but they at least gave a particular notion more than a sentence or two. This one covers lots and lots of ground, lots of different sub-areas of philosophy, but it just barely touches on each before moving right along. Some of the cartoons were great and honestly, there could have been really, really in depth (and funny) discussions, but the authors were too quick to move on to the next thing.
That doesn't make this a bad book. Just not the book I was hoping for.
I enjoyed it.
It's a quick read, and if you're a philosophy junkie it's fun to even briefly touch on all these ideas again. If you're new to the philosophy world, it's like a quick overview of the big themes in European and American philosophy for the past few thousand years.
This wasn't my favorite.
The other three books were focused on jokes (typically fairly bad jokes that made my wife and kids groan when I repeated them over and over again). This one's cartoons. Funny cartoons. Lots of New Yorker stuff.
I expected something more like the other books, but somehow this one is more "surface," if you will. Not that the others did huge deep dives, but they at least gave a particular notion more than a sentence or two. This one covers lots and lots of ground, lots of different sub-areas of philosophy, but it just barely touches on each before moving right along. Some of the cartoons were great and honestly, there could have been really, really in depth (and funny) discussions, but the authors were too quick to move on to the next thing.
That doesn't make this a bad book. Just not the book I was hoping for.
I enjoyed it.
It's a quick read, and if you're a philosophy junkie it's fun to even briefly touch on all these ideas again. If you're new to the philosophy world, it's like a quick overview of the big themes in European and American philosophy for the past few thousand years.
August 21, 2023
This book is a book a bought a long time ago, I bought it at a book store a few years ago with my father. I wanted to buy this book but my father thought it was not a book for my age, but I already known what is philosophy back at that time, so i asked my dad a question, why am I who I am?. My dad was shocked that i can ask a question like that when i was at that age, so he allowed me to buy that book, but it was still a bit too hard for me to understand the book at that age, so my dad told me to read it in the future. So i decided to read it this summer. This is a book all about philosophy questions, and the author explaining us the answer to these questions, for example, what makes you think you know what you think you know? Which is about theories of knowledge. It might sound confusing but it is actually true what the author said, there is no proof to weather if your memory is true or not. And after this book it made me got into philosophy even more, and i think its very interesting.
July 14, 2023
This book is witty and deep, tongue-in-cheek funny, and thought-provoking. Despite the fact that the end section of Biosketches is not the main section of the book, it might have been my favorite. In it, the authors did an amazing job encapsulating the lives of the most famous philosophers in what appears to be Twitter-sized chunks. The main part of the book is sectioned off into philosophical topics (e.g. "What If Your Right Is My Wrong? Moral Relativism"), which begin with a cartoon and are followed by analysis by the co-author friends. While I'm sure I don't agree with all of the analyses of the cartoons, I don't think that was their purpose. I think they simply wanted to provide a gateway of access to something they both love.
If Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein's goal in writing this book was to inspire others to get more "into" philosophy and philosophers then their goal was achieved with me.
If Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein's goal in writing this book was to inspire others to get more "into" philosophy and philosophers then their goal was achieved with me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews