A philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also Jokes

Verificationist Man

Caption: "In a world rife with metaphysical speculation, only one man has the intellect, courage, and commitment to verifiable science to do stop it... " Caption: "...also, he was the only one who was a big enough nerd to care so much about stuff like that." Caption: "He was, Principle of Verification Man!" Description: It is Rudolph Carnap in a cape. Carnap: "Hooray for science!" Leibniz: "Mind and body coincide not due to causation, but because of a pre-established harmony ordained by God." Carnap, slapping him: "That statement has no empirical content that can be verified by the sense, so it is...nonsense!" Kant: "Reality is in itself unknowable, we can only observe the phenomenal world." Carnap, slapping him: "Nonsense!" Whitehead: "Reality consists of processes rather than material objects." Schlick: "Only statements that are empirically verifiable are cognitively meaningful." Carnap, slapping him: "Nonsense!" Schlick: "Carnap, what are you doing? That's our theory!" Carnap: "Wait...shit, no, hold on..."
Wait a minute, I don't care that at all, because the verification principle isn't making a metaphysical claim it is making a suggestion about how we should talk about things.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/374

Three Little Philosophers of Science

"Once upon a time there were three little philosophers of science. The first philosopher, Rudolph Carnap, built his theory on the principle of verificationism." "But then along came the big bad wolf, who blew his philosophy down because it couldn't adequately demarcate between science and non-science." "The second philosopher, Karl Popper, built his theory on the principle of falsification." "Then along came the big bad wolf, who blew his philosophy down because no actual scientific theory ever has an exact set of falsifiable criteria." "The third philosopher, Thomas Kuhn, built his theory on a rigorous sociological account of working scientists." "Then along came the big bad wolf, and he blew that theory down too, because it descended into relativism. It turns out that philosophy of science is hard." Thomas Kuhn, shouting: "God damnit, you are all misinterpreting me! "
Kuhn: "is my theory crumbling because I am forced to make an increasing number of ad hoc adjusts, exactly how I described scientific theories crumble before a paradigm shift? No, it's the kids who are wrong."

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/358

The Vienna Circle Solves Humor


They have a good point though, comedy was a mistake.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/275

Is a Hotdog a Sandwich? A Definitive Study.


Carnap: "But if we made an exact scientific language the usage would never be unclear!" Wittgenstein: "No, if you made an exact scientific language, it would always be unclear, because no one is going to learn your nerd language."

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/268

The Vienna Circle Solves Philosophy


Back in Vienna: "okay, now that we have written this 600 page tract that PROVES scientifically that we are not, in fact, nerds, that should put the matter to rest."

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/252

The Vienna Circle Faces a Crisis of Logical Positivism


It didn't work.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/170

The Bar Fight


Not shown: Camus triumphantly rebelling against the absurd by picking up a woman at the bar.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/146

Analytic Office


You thought that last joke wasn't going to be an Office Space sketch? No. BOOM! Radical freedom, it's Seinfeld. And a bit of Dilbert.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/89

Philosophical Investigations


But it turned out that the language games that they play in prison are actually pretty fun.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/80

The Philosophy of the Science of Poker



The Incommensurability of that one annoying friend who always goes all in

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/49

World Cup Philosophy: Germany vs France




For best results, the commentator should be read in the voice of Michael Palin

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/35

The Analytics at the Bar


Unfortunately, all the girls left the bar too - scared off by William James

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/30

Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophers II: The Analytic Turn



Russell destroyed most of Frege's items too, when he threw the bag of holding into the portable hole. Frege was pretty cheesed off about it at first, but eventually he admitted it was his fault for not realizing that portable holes weren't quite as secure as he had thought.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/28

The Germans Play Monopoly


I'm not sure what they expected, it was inevitable really.

Permanent Link to this Comic: http://existentialcomics.com/comic/19

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