Philosophy Phriday, on a Monday

JMcAndrew sends this one in: “This one has me completely baffled. I guess this clown is filling up a plate with food before he intentionally slips on the banana peel and falls into the open grave? But Why?”

This is part of a set of cartoons by Edward Steed, with the title of Philosophy Illustrated: A Picture Book of Philosophical Terms. So, it’s intended as a humorous take on the philosophical concept of free will.

I must admit that I (ZBicyclist) find more than this one confusing.


On a lighter philosophical note: (these are not CIDUs)



5 Comments

  1. Unknown's avatar

    Free will means that the clown can choose what he puts on his plate, but the banana peel and the grave are inevitably in his future.

  2. Unknown's avatar

    I saw it differently. Most would think a clown has no choice but to slip on a banana peel, apparently to his death. He has the freewill to not do that and enjoy other things in life.

    But the more I think about it, the more I like Pete’s answer. I was trying to see if the other cartoons are similar demonstrations of the absurdity of certain notions or the inherent truth, but I can’t really tell which way this all leans.

  3. Unknown's avatar

    Perhaps – The clown is overfilling his plate expected to stuff his face no end. However, fate has it in store for him to slip on the banana (unknown to him as he has fills his plate) and die before he can eat any of it.

    (Yeah, my brain works terribly odd – I thought how it worked was normal when I was a child, but now I know it is not – and if I am not careful and regulate what I say, people think I am odd.)

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