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George Carlin As Philosophy: It’S All Bullshit. Is It Bad For Ya?, Kimberly S. Engels Phd
George Carlin As Philosophy: It’S All Bullshit. Is It Bad For Ya?, Kimberly S. Engels Phd
Faculty Works: PHI (2010-2021)
This chapter explores the comedy of George Carlin (1937–2008) as a powerful statement about the value of truth over ignorance. Carlin challenged his audience to confront the truth, regularly using clever rhetorical strategies to force viewers to grapple with inconvenient realities about the world in which they lived. This chapter examines historical and contemporary philosophical arguments for the importance of the pursuing truth over comforting fictions. I begin with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which argues it is preferable to know reality as it truly is over appearances of the truth, even when it’s painful or difficult. I then discuss …