Calvin "The King of Casual Reasoning"

Comics, or the “Sunday Funnies” have a way of bringing out poignant observations using a variety of philosophical means. Of the ranks of great philosophers, Socrates, Descartes, Kant, Spinoza, is “Calvin:” one of the finest minds to grace the comic strip. Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson. In this popular artistic blend of tomfoolery and philosophical enlightenment the main character, a little kid by the name of “Calvin,” continually engages his stuffed tiger, “Hobbes,” in a dramatic dialogue discussing the aspects of life, aliens, and the fate of snowmen. One of Calvin’s most famous quotes goes, “Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.” In this classic quote Calvin asserts a method of reverse causal reasoning that acts as both humor and a distressing critique of humanity. On the surface the statement is merely an observation of cause and effect: Calvin is stating that because intelligent life has not contacted us, which would be foolish, then it must be smart and therefore its absence is a cause for its existence. The humor comes from the reverse logic of the statement. Most people might say something like; “If intelligent life does exist then it would have contacted us by now.” Thus stating that because there is no effect then there is no overarching being to spur the cause. The distressing critique of humanity comes in by Calvin suggesting that humanity is the cause for the effect of the intelligent life staying away. Perhaps if humanity were better then the effect would be different, as the overarching force behind the causality would think it wise to contact us.

The Unexamined Government is Not Worth Serving.

In the 2008 presidential election for the United States, democratic candidate Barrack Obama used the slogan, “Change we can believe in.” But the age-old call for change is not something new to just Senator Obama. In fact, the message has been one that has been declared in the streets since the time of such famous Greek Philosophers as Plato and Socrates. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates plays the central figure as the advocate for change in the Athenian society. Following Plato’s Socratic model and Obama’s message the position of the Socratic faction in the last week of the PHIL 1102 RPG assemble will be the advancement of change in the Athenian society. We will be pushing the principles of an Academic System that provides education of an intellectual elite. These schools will in turn produce a series of philosopher-kings, or guardians, who will lead Athenians away from the anarchy of a pure democracy to a more organized form of government that serves the people as well as guides them with wisdom. If it is possible to advance the Socratic schools then the next step will be to pass legislation that will allow for only those graduates of the schools to be able to vote in assemble. The great lie will be that anyone can be a part of these schools, including woman, and that this is a way of giving people the right to vote. In truth it will simply be a way of legislating the government so that the people of Athenians will not foolishly govern themselves via the drunken madness of the incompetent masses. The plan is to use a mixture of historical context from the Peloponnesian wars along side a mythological analogy using the story of Bellerophon and the Chimera to argue the need for the Socratic/Platonic Academy. This will be in stark contrast with the Democratic position of the advance of democracy but what good Socratic ever believed in democracy? We need change and we need to change to a society ruled by the just and the wise... not the masses.

Dogbert the Enthymeme Master

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An enthymeme is a stated three-part deductive argument in which the argument contains an assumption that must be true for the premises to lead to the conclusion. In an enthymeme, part of the argument is missing because it is assumed. An example of an enthymeme would be the famous quote form Mark Twain, “There is no law against composing music when one has no ideas whatsoever. The music of Wagner, therefore, is perfectly legal” (1). This enthymeme states the premise first and then the conclusion but the audience is expected to gather the implicit premise that the musician Wagner has no ideas. In Scott Adams’ October 8, 2008, Dilbert comic strip Dogbert can be found using his own style of enthymeme. The comic strip starts with Dogbert telling the workforce, “There is an ugly rumor that I sold your brains to cannibals and your spirits to demons” (2). While Dogbert is claiming that this new information is just rumor, in reality this information is the premise for his enthymeme and it is followed by maniacal laughter which serves as a conclusion. The implicit premise left for the reader and the workforce is that, “Dogbert is happy about his recent cannibalistic and demonic transaction.” It would have taken away from the punch line of the comic strip if Dogbert had said, “And action this makes me happy,” before laughing. So the implicit premise is implied as he skips that middle part and gets straight to the evil laughing.

(1) Mark Twain: The National
(2) Scott Adams: Dilbert.

Dilbert, Aristotle, Character and Cows?

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Once again I find myself drawn to Dilbert for another example of Aristotelian thought. This time I will be looking at a twisted appeal to character. One of the attributes that Aristotle defines as a character is a person birth. While this trait lies outside of the realm of the person’s influence, it no less has as influence on the person. Aristotle says of birth, “The character of good birth is for the man who has it to be relatively ambitious; for all men, when they have something, are wont to accumulate it, and good birth is the reputation of one’s ancestors” (1). In the September 30th Dilbert comic strip by Scoot Adams, Dilbert and his colleges are faced with a humorous issue of species discrimination. The whole ordeal starts when the Elbonian clients introduce their bovine supervisor into the workforce of the office. While the Elbonian representative assures the workforce that there will be no discrimination from the supervisor, Dilbert, on the other hand, is quick to bring up that the Elbonians already have a biased view of non-Elbonians. It is poignantly observed by Dilbert that non-Elbonians are on a lower social plan due to the nature of being born outside the decadency of Elbonia. Even though there may not be any discrimination from the supervisor, there is already discrimination from those over the supervisor. Thus the issue comes down to the character of birth. The reassurance of Elbonian representative is really a backhanded insult attacking the very character of birth the human workforce. Good ancestry gives a man one up on the competition in that he is already standing in good report solely on the merit of his descendants’ reputation. For Dilbert and the rest of the workforce, just being born non-Elbonian is enough to lower their reputation to that of cattle.

(1) Aristotle: The Art of Rhetoric.
(2) Scott Adams: Dilbert.