Filosophy Friday Archive

Philosophy isn't spelled with an 'F', I know. One fine day, David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton of the 'Philosophy Bites' podcast asked a variety of university philosophers what philosophy was. They got a lot of different answers, but this one by Jerrold Levinson is my favorite.


"Oh, I didn't know you were going to ask me the really hard questions. I can tell a joke that says what philosophy is.

A young man is going on a date and he asks his father for advice. 'Dad, I'm really nervous, what will I talk about in the dead spots?' The father says, 'Look, son, there are the three 'F's: there's Food, Family and Filosophy'. So the son says, 'Okay, I'll remember that.'

So he goes on a date and he's with the date in the car after dinner; and there's one of these lulls, and so he thinks what am I going to say, my teeth are clattering. Ah, I'll remember my father's advice.

'So Mary, do you like asparagus?'

'Well, no John, I don't like asparagus.'

'Well, Mary, do you have any brothers?'

'Well actually John, I don't have any brothers.'

Well, Mary, if you had a brother would he like asparagus?'


In a way, far more enlightening about the subject of philosophy than anything I could ever say.

25/2/2011 - Saying the Darndest Things
4/3/2011 - Let's Read: 'Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction' by Edward Craig, Part 1
11/3/2011 - Let's Read: 'Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction' by Edward Craig, Part2

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