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Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation by Eric Kaplan (Hardback, 2014)

A humorous philosophical investigation into the existence of Santa from a co-executive producer ofThe Big Bang Theory Metaphysics isn t ordinarily much of a laughing matter. But in the hands of acclaimed comedy writer and scholar Eric Kaplan, a search for the truth about old St. Nick becomes a deeply insightful, laugh-out-loud discussion of the way some things exist but may t really be there. Just like Santa and his reindeer. Even after we outgrow the jolly fellow, the essential paradox persists: There are some things we dearly believe in that are t universally ackwledged as real. InDoes Santa Exist?Kaplan shows how philosophy giants Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein strove to smooth over this uncomfortable meeting of the real and unreal and failed. From there he turns to mysticism s attempts to resolve such paradoxes, surveying Buddhism, Taoism, early Christianity, Theosophy, and even the philosophers at UC Berkeley under whom he studied. Finally, this brilliant comic writer alights on surprise comedy as the ultimate resolution of the fundamental paradoxes of life, using examples fromThe Big Bang Theory, Monty Python s cheese shop sketch, and many other pop-culture sources. Finally Kaplan delves deeper into what this means, from how our physical brains work to his own personal confrontations with life s biggest questions: If we re all going to die, what s the point of anything? What is a perfect moment? What can you say about God? Or Santa?

Content Note
Black & White Illustrations
Author Biography
ERIC KAPLAN is a co-executive producer of (and writer for) the CBS sitcomThe Big Bang Theory. Previously he wrote for the Late Show with David Letterman, Futurama (for which he won an Emmy Award), andFlight of the Conchords. Kaplan graduated from Harvard and is currently completing his PhD dissertation in philosophy at UC Berkeley.
Out-Of-Print Date
10/03/2017
Date of Publication
16/10/2014
Country of Publication
United States

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