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| Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington | 
 enlarge | Authors: Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein
Publisher: Abrams Image
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 5511
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 196
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0810995417
Dewey Decimal Number: 401.41
EAN: 9780810995413
ASIN: 0810995417
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
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Product Description
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, authors of the national bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, aren’t falling for any election year claptrap—and they don’t want their readers to either! In Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington, our two favorite philosopher-comedians return just in time to save us from the double-speak, flim-flam, and alternate reality of politics in America.
Deploying jokes and cartoon as well as the occasional insight from Aristotle and his peers, Cathcart and Klein explain what politicos are up to when they state: “The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.” (Donald Rumsfeld), “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” (Bill Clinton), or even, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” (Thomas Jefferson, et al).
Drawing from the pronouncements of everyone from Caesar to Condoleeza Rice, Genghis Kahn to Hillary Clinton, and Adolf Hitler to Al Sharpton. Cathcart and Klein help us learn to identify tricks such as “The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy” (non causa pro causa) and the “The Fallacy Fallacy” (argumentum and logicam). Aristotle and an Aardvark is for anyone who ever felt like the politicos and pundits were speaking Greek. At least Cathcart and Klein provide the Latin name for it (raudatio publica)!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Logical Fallacies 101 - Through Politics January 11, 2008
24 out of 31 found this review helpful
A hilarious collection of political quotes, exposing logical fallacies (better known as bulls**t) of the quoters - by the authors of the best seller "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar" - a similar treatise on philosophy.
Some are just white lies: President Reagan's aide Michael Deaver was asked how the President had reacted to Congress's authorization of the sale of planes to Saudi Arabia. Deaver quickly said, "The President said, "Thank God." Actually, the President had said, "I feel like I've just crapped a pineapple."
But some are blatantly transparent: "It's a success that hasn't occurred yet. I don't know that I'd call that a failure." - Homeland Security Advisor Townsend on why bin Laden had not yet been captured.
Some involve shooting the arrow at a barn, then drawing the bulls-eye around wherever the arrow landed: The wednesday after 9/11, Rumsfeld complained there were no decent targets for bombing in Afganistan and we should consider bombing Iraq, which had better targets.
Special sections for all occasions, such as how a politician can avoid apologizing: "Mistakes were made" - Nixon about Watergate, Alberto Gonzales about his attorney-generalship. For those who can't resist puzzles, a pop quiz is provided at the end - you get to match various quotes with their corresponding logical fallacies.
Text is quick to read, hard to put down, and completely entertaining - the book leaves you wanting more. There are 22 excellent all-purpose political cartoons, mostly from "New Yorker" magazine. The authors mix in some great jokes when needed to further illustrate a point. As Will Rogers said, "There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you."
 Nothing really new February 23, 2008
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
Even though the book is about Washington politics, it is quite evident the author does not like President Bush. I am no fan of Bush or some of his cohorts. Having said that, the constant anti-Bush theme gets boring at times - nothing really new. The persistent political inconsistencies cited by the author of many politicians and political groupies are well known and equally ignored by most people outside of the Beltway.
There are times when the humor is quite good and the jabs well placed.
Aristotle and an Aardvark March 12, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Aristotle and an Aardvark
So, I'm playing Texas Hold `em with the Pope, President Bush, and Hillary. Obama is too young to play with anything except pennies, so we didn't invite him, and McCain went to Mexico to buy cheap Viagra. No wonder he's for NAFTA. The Pope is broke again and trying to convince the rest of us to let him throw his big, pointy hat into the pot, but what am I going to do with it? I could sell it on EBay, but it'd be a pain to mail. Hillary decides to light a Cuban cigar, and crack a joke, "Did you see Barack Obama at that rally surrounded by all those Kennedys? I couldn't tell if he was running for president or bartender."* Wait a moment. I've been handed yet another memo from the legal department. It appears that if I am going to finish this column, I'm going to have to read this disclaimer: Please note that views expressed here are those of the columnist. We neither agree, disagree, condone nor claim that any of his ramblings actually approach reality. Besides, our sources claim that the Pope only plays the nickel slots, and we called Bill, and he said Hillary would take Pennsylvania, but wouldn't smoke a cigar...
The last time Pennsylvania's primary actually made a difference was 1976. So you can be sure that we'll have lots of doublespeak flying our way, and that's why I picked up a copy of Aristotle and an Aardvark Go To Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak Through Philosophy and Jokes by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein. These authors of Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar aren't falling for any election year tricky talk or weasel words, and neither should you.
Cathcart and Klein break out some great jokes as well as political cartoons. They explain what politicians are really up to when they state: "The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence." (Donald Rumsfeld); "It depends on what the meaning of the word `is' is." (Bill Clinton), or even "I am the Flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you." (Genghis Khan) I find it refreshing to hear an honest politician speak his mind. You can always count on the "Scourge of God " to tell it as he saw it. No, wait--that was the diplomat, Attila the Hun.
Have you ever heard a politician deliver a speech or press conference and know in your gut that their pronouncements were certifiable BS, but you just couldn't put your finger on why? Sure, sometimes the speaker fails to make sense simply because they convey a straight-out lie. This book will help you with the subtler stuff. For example, words that have been cunningly crafted to sound like they mean something important and compelling, but that upon careful inspection can be revealed to be bull scatology, which is far more insidious than outright lying, because it can be harder to detect.
Utilizing quotes from Al Sharpton to Adolf Hitler, Hillary Clinton to Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield and Genghis Khan, these philosophical comedians help us learn and identify many stratagems. There's the "Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy", where you shoot a bunch of holes in the barn door and then draw a target around them. There's "Doublespeak", such as electronic intercepts NOT wiretapping. And then there's the good old "So's your mother" argument, which is misleading by getting personal, "Your Mom wears combat boots", which reminds me my high school days.
Presidential candidates often seem to cloud the issues saying anything and everything to get elected. Appearing to have said nothing and everything on both sides of an issue all in the same breath. They are speaking another language, and this book can help translate. I found it quick and easy to read, hard to put down, and funny, but the authors have a lot of material to work with. I believe Will Rogers nailed it when he said, "There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you." Now, I have to be off. I'm going hunting with Dick Cheney. I hear its open season on Qualye...
*Joke originally told by Jay Leno, much to Hillary's chagrin. You don't actually think she's that funny?
Author of "Hobo Finds A Home" and editor "Of A Predatory Heart"
 Nothing you haven't read already somewhere else. April 10, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I purchased this book concurrently with the duo's previous book - Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes. That one was as advertised - providing a gentle introduction (or perhaps re-introduction) to, say, the iedas of Rudolf Carnap in a well-written and often humorous-enough way.
This book ("Aristotle and an Aardvark") attempts to do the same for "political doublespeak" Unfortunately, it falls flat and seems dated already, quite soon after its original publication. Even though this book shares the same basic format as the previous one, this one suffers from three fundamental flaws:
1. If you're a likely reader of this book, you will already likely have encountered the vast majority of examples of quotes in your regular internet browsing over the last few years. The specifics of Kant or Schopenhauer illuminated in the previous book required at least a philosophy major's background knowlege of philosophy. The "research" for the factual content of this book could more or less be summed up from skimming CNN and watching the Daily Show.
2. I'm left-of-lenin liberal, but reading a book teeming with wink-wink ad hominems about George W Bush and co seems dated and gratuitous. I was expecting something more timeless, along the lines of the Philosophy book. Instead, we get jocular Tom Delay bashing.
3. The "theoretical" content of this book (which, by the way, would probably be more accurately called "... through theory and jokes", though that sounds rather unsaleable) is weak. It's largely an abridged list of standard logical fallacies. Unlike Wittenstein, this tends to be something that the target audience already knows. As such, the theoretical framework largely exists to make yet more George Bush jokes, interspersed with a slag on, say, Ray Nagin for balance or something.
On the plus side, the cartoons and unrelated jokes are good. There's probably something there you can work into a talk or lecture if you're an academic.
Overall, I expected something much more enlightened, witty, and intelligent.
In case it's not clear already: read the authors' other book, and probably give this one a miss.
 A laugh out loud! February 8, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Well, lets see. I will admit that I have read very little of this book, but what I have read I have really enjoyed and found to be extreemly hilarious. I was turned on to the book one day when I arrived at my parents house to find my father sitting in his chair one afternoon laughing out loud. I took that as a vote of confidence that my father of all people would not be laughing out loud if this book was indeed not funny. In fact he has been slowly savering this book, which is a sure sign that it is a good read. I recently purchased a copy of the book for my boyfriend knowing that he will get the same joy out of the book as my father.
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