This New York Times bestseller is the hilarious philosophy course everyone wishes they d had in school Outrageously funny, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . . has been a breakout bestseller ever since authors and born vaudevillians Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein did their schtick on NPR s Weekend Edition . Lively, original, and powerfully informative, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar . . . is a not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical thinkers and traditions, from Existentialism ( What do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common? ) to Logic ( Sherlock Holmes never deduced anything ). Philosophy 101 for those who like to take the heavy stuff lightly, this is a joy to read and finally, it all makes sense! Watch a QuickTime trailer for this book. ,
In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing that law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will.