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

Extreme Skepticism

Did Pyrrho know how cool he was? Nah, he was so cool he didn't have to.

Permanent Link to this Comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/499

Francis Bacon Invents Science

Francis Bacon: "Everyone, hey everyone, listen up. I have this great new idea that will totally revolutionize the world. " Francis Bacon: "We must dismiss all prejudices and preconceptions and collect facts by observing the natural world." Person in crowd: "Sounds stupid." Francis Bacon: "Sounds not stupid!" Person: "Why don't we just find the truth by thinking about things really hard? " Francis Bacon: "Because! It's far better to set up theories and then observe the actual world to see if theory matches up with prediction." Francis Bacon: "But how do you know it's better?" Francis Bacon thinks about it, then replies angrily: "I thought about it really hard, okay!"
"Wait no, I'm changing my answer, I *empirically observed* how stupid other people's ideas were."

Permanent Link to this Comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/404

The Philosophy of a Good Party

Francis Bacon: "This party is lame." Zera Yacob: "But how do we make a better party?" Francis Bacon: "Can't we just observe what other parties are like, collect data, and analyze what is or isn't good? I saw a party last week with a keg, maybe we should try that." Zera Yacob: "We can't just blindly follow the creed of others, Francis Bacon, we have to use our reason to find the universal truth of what a good party is." Francis Bacon: "So what do we do, Zera Yacob?" Zera Yacob: "We have to create a party which harmonizes with the universal and absolute reason of God, and the world." Francis Bacon: "But how do we do that?" Zera Yacob: "We have to figure out a way to make our party comfortable for everyone, so everyone can relax and have a good time." Hegel: "Are you serious?! Comfortable? Relaxing? You've misunderstood not only parties, but reason itself." Zera Yacob: "What do you mean, Hegel?" Hegel: "Reason is not a pure abstraction that can come immediately to the truth, it is a process of refining our concepts towards an ever building idea." Hegel: "That's why a good party pushes forward the dialectic, it challenges us on the very concept of a party, makes us examine what a party even is." Zera Yacob: "What are you saying?" Hegel: "I'm saying we need to get real freaky with it." Zera Yacob: "Uh..."
Hegel: "What if we all put on blindfolds, and descended into the basement. At random, half of us would be the 'masters' and half of us would be the 'slaves.' " Hegel: "Then, through the power struggle of obedience and rebellion, we would come to an even greater understanding of our own self-consciousness." Hegel, holding up a ball gag and straps: "Here, put these on, and take some coke." Zera Yacob: "Okay, first of all...no." Zera Yacob: "And second of all, I've realized that you are disrupting the harmony of our party, lame though it may be, so you are going to have to leave." Hegel: "You see, this is great, it is all part of the dialectical process, you've given the antithesis to my thesis." Hegel: "Now we just have to come to a synthesis of our competing ideas, like...what if you didn't have to wear the ball gag?" Francis Bacon and Zera Yacob together: "NO!" Francis Bacon: "Carry on with the lame party?" Zera Yacob: "Yes please."
It turns out that a good party is mostly just a party without Hegel.

Permanent Link to this Comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/319

The Life of Francis




"You've got to always look on the bright side of life. Because any attempt to deduce the bright of life from reason alone will still rely on concepts gained from prior experience of the bright side of liiiiiife."

Permanent Link to this Comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/183

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