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.