Jon Stewart as Socrates
Philosophy has a way of coming up during discussions around here (we are talking about ethics, after all) and from the traffic to a recent post about Stephen Colbert we know that more than a few of us are Daily Show fans. So with those two facts in mind, we pass along this article from the Sacramento Bee about Jason Holt's work on philosophy and the Daily Show. Here's a clip:
Just as Socrates' and Diogenes' reason-over-emotion doctrines served as an antidote to the sophists and rhetoricians of their day, Stewart's nightly reports combat the dissembling of politicians and the blathering of mainstream media's so-called "chattering class." At least, that's Holt's thesis.
And then, there's this: Socrates and Diogenes were as snarky then as Stewart is now.
Diogenes once lived in a bathtub to show citizens the folly of the pursuit of wealth and comfort. And Socrates was known for comically feigning ignorance – "I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing" – to dissect an opponent's argument.
Holt is an assistant professor at Acadia University in Canada and his work on this topic led him to compile the aptly titled book "The Daily Show and Philosophy," a collection of essays by Holt and a number of contributors.
While there's definitely a joke here, Holt does seem to think there's something meaningful, too. Again, from that Bee article:
For his part, Holt says that Stewart can show current philosophers and "public intellectuals," such as himself, a thing or two.
"Intellectuals in the past used to do a lot more public engagement, reaching out behind the walls of the ivory tower," Holt says. "Now, many have not taken this challenge up, and they've left a gap in the culture. A lot of pundits have taken over.
"What Stewart and 'The Daily Show' do is fill that gap, not because it's intellectual discourse first and foremost, but because they're doing a better job than academics like me have traditionally done."
And, of course, if Jon Stewart is Socrates you know what that makes Stephen Colbert? Plato.
(via)
-Greg Dahlmann
screen capture: The Daily Show
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Which means only one thing... Hilary Clinton is Aristotle.
Who's Epicurus, then> Richard Dawkins?
- by John S. Wilkins on Oct 23, 2007 at 11:51 PM | link
QUOTE from above "...Diogenes once lived in a bathtub to show citizens the folly of the pursuit of wealth and comfort. And Socrates was known for comically feigning ignorance – "I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing..."
So BEN STEIN is not the first philosopher-comedian!
- by lovemydesignergenes on Oct 26, 2007 at 7:34 AM | link
Bah- I say, Bah!
While your ideas are interesting, it's imprtant to keep in mind one thing about John Stewart and Stephen Colbert... where they get their material.
Do you know where they get their material? I do.
1) It comes from politicians who say extremely dumb things. and
2) The media, which has created a 24 hour news cycle, in order to make more money.
Any time you have 24 hour news- you're gonna have to say some incredibly dumb or asinine things to keep the cycle going. I think that ultimately the whole point of John Stewart is to point out that the intelligence of a nation is easily measured by where that nation gets it's information. I don't know about you, but the last time I turned CNN on, they were talking about how they are the best source of news. After that, they talked about how their speculation was the best source of speculation on the news.
How is that really news? Is it news because they made it up, or is it news because we eat it up?
- by Bah on Feb 17, 2009 at 1:13 AM | link