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Philosophy Cartoons

  • The search for happiness – cartoon

    Psychology cartoon. Search for meaning and fulfilment in life

    Cartoon – searching for happiness
    The pursuit of happiness cartoon

    A cartoon showing a person walking along a road in a quest to seek happiness. He is asking a person who lives alongside the road if he will find happiness and fulfilment along this route, as that is what he is seeking.
    The local man says that he thinks that the traveller has passed the place he is looking for back along the route he has already taken (without noticing it)

    A cartoon about expectations, contentment, never being happy, happiness always just out of reach, seekers after meaning, the meaning of life, grass is greener on the other side of the hill
    Cartoon reference number: hap25
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  • Giant bird or tiny balloon? How viewpoint affects interpretation

    giant bird or tiny balloon?

    Illustration of visual ambiguity of scale
    Is the bird huge or is the balloon tiny?
    Or are they both the normal size and it’s just the viewpoint that gives the dramatic effect?

    An illustration showing how the position of the viewer can influence the interpretation of events

    An illustration about birds, flying, flight, interpretation, relativism, illusion, optical illusions, ambiguity, ambiguous interpretation, deceptive scale, visual deception, trompe-l’œil, trompe l’oeil

    Cartoon drawn: 1975?
    Cartoon reference number: robin2
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  • DNA tightrope as a metaphor for life

    Illustration. A strand of dna as a tightrope

    DNA cartoon or illustration
    DNA tightrope as a metaphor for life

    A strand of dna depicted as a tightrope, with the double helix creating the strands of the rope. A person is walking along the strand.
    The strand of dna is a metaphor for the precarious nature of life.

    The illustration suggests existential vertigo – the dizzy feeling that can come about when contemplating the precarious nature of existence and reality.
    A philosophy of science cartoon.

    Cartoon reference number: gen010
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  • Domino effect cartoon

    Domino effect cartoon. A domino at the back of a queue of dominos trips up, about to make the rest fall

    Domino effect cartoon
    An illustration of the domino effect

    A domino at the back of a line of dominos trips up.
    Part of this joke is that the domino that falls is tripping over a sign saying “Queue Here”.
    So the fact that the dominos have been lined up in an orderly queue is also the reason that they are going to fall.

    A cartoon about self-fulfilling dynamics, inevitability, cascading effect, knock on effects.

    This cartoon was first published in Prospect magazine.
    Original version drawn: Sept 2005

    Cartoon reference number: dom710
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  • Contemporary illustration. A man with a stylised fish as an eye

    Illustration. Man with fish eye

    Contemporary illustration
    A silhouette of a man with a stylised fish as an eye

    This conceptual illustration may be about the fact that because we are evolved from fish we still see the world through our animal sensibilities.
    Or maybe, because the fish eye is similar to the fish symbol used by some Christian groups, is this man looking at the world through the eyes of someone with a religious outlook?
    Maybe it’s an illustration about the way that people generally see the world in the way that they want to see it, interpreting it through their own preconceived ideas and prejudices.
    To be honest, the image just came to me one day, so the meaning is somewhere in my own subconscious

    A cartoon about human evolution, vision, religion, bias, sight, insight, eye sight

    Cartoon drawn: 2011
    Cartoon reference number: eye710
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  • Artificial life cartoon. Sentient computers

    Artificial life illustration. Artificial sperm

    Artificial intelligence cartoon
    Will computers become conscious?

    An illustration showing computer mouse as sperm (a metaphor for life and consciousness)

    A cartoon about artificial intelligence, ai, sentient computers, computer awareness, Turing test, reproduction, meaning of life, definition of life, digital intelligence, artificial lifeforms

    Cartoon drawn: 2011
    Cartoon reference number: spe711
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  • Cartoon. A person looking through a telescope and a person looking through a microscope

    Cartoon about our place in the universe. A person looking through a telescope and a person looking through a microscope. Both seeing the same thing

    Telescope cartoon
    Microscope cartoon
    A cartoon about our place in the universe

    A person looking through a telescope and a person looking through a microscope. Both seeing the same thing
    A cartoon to illustrate the fact that we as humans occupy a position in the scale of things that is part way between the really big and the really small, and that to a large extent both extremes are inaccessible to us.
    I’m not implying that the really small is actually the same as the really big by the way (as in the common game of imagining that atoms are planetary systems and that our solar system is actually an atom in a more gigantic scale of reality), although it’s a fun concept

    A cartoon about perception, our place in the universe, stars, bacteria, size, scale.
    Cartoon reference number: mon910
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  • Guru cartoon – a guru as an authority figure

    Cartoon about gurus as authority figures

    Guru cartoon
    Gurus as authority figures

    A cartoon about suspicion of authority.

    The cartoon is also related to the tendency towards distrust of experts prevalent in the late 2010s and 2020s (although I personally don’t view gurus as experts!).
    It is a cartoon about independent thinking, individualism, gullibility, followers, following authority, suspicion, identifying charlatans, charlatanism, wisdom, wise men, spiritual teachings, false authority, trust, persuasion, anti-authoritarianism.
    Cartoon reference number: gur171
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  • Philosophy cartoon. Which is more interesting – the night sky or a night on television?

    Philosophy cartoon. Someone staring at the night sky and finding it boring when compared to television

    Philosophy cartoon
    Is outer space boring or awe inspiring?

    Someone staring at the night sky and finding it boring when compared to a night’s television viewing (or other digital entertainment)

    A cartoon about our perception of our place in the universe, spirituality, awe, world views, spiritual perspectives, existentialism
    Cartoon reference number: phi610

  • Practical uses of philosophy – cartoon

    Practical philosophy cartoon

    Practical uses of philosophy cartoon
    Philosophy in the kitchen cartoon

    A man ponders on a variation of Bishop George Berkley’s theory that if you can’t see something it doesn’t exist.
    The caption reads: Who said philosophy had no practical uses?
    The person is thinking: Because I can no longer see it, the washing up ceases to exist!
    Bishop Berkley’s concept is known as idealism – the view that the external world does not exist independently of the mind. According to Berkeley all that exists are minds and their thoughts and sensations, with nothing to suggest that the external material world exists at all

    A cartoon about domestic philosophy, materialism, immaterialism, excuses, rationalism, irrationalism, rationalisation, home-spun philosophies, justifications

    Cartoon drawn: 2002
    Cartoon reference number: phi710
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  • Philosophy cartoon: Trolley Problem cartoon

    Cartoon illustrating the runaway trolley ethical dilemma

    The trolley problem – cartoon
    Cartoon about ethics
    The runaway trolley ethical dilemma

    In the traditional version of the trolley problem a runaway trolley or railway carriage is hurtling along a track and is heading for five workmen. It will kill the five workmen unless you (who happen to be in the signal box) move the points and divert the carriage onto a side track. However, there is a single person standing on that track. Can you bring yourself to divert the carriage, thus sacrificing the one person to save the many?
    The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics that was first formulated by Philippa Foot, and has since spawned numerous alternative versions, most famously the one in which in order to save the group of people on the track the option is to push a fat man onto the track.

    A cartoon or illustration about ethics, neuroethics, ethical dilemmas, virtue, morals, moral dilemmas, morality, thought experiments, utilitarianism, cognitive science, psychology, philosophical problems.
    Drawn: Aug 2009
    Cartoon reference number: phi2809
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  • Galileo cartoon

    Galileo carton

    Galileo cartoon

    Galileo discussing the discoveries he made through his telescope with the church
    The representative from the church (the Pope?) is thinking of hitting Galileo on the head with his telescope in order to shut him up.
    The joke is that Galileo’s telescope made the discoveries and the church wants to use Galileo’s telescope to silence him

    A cartoon about anti-scientific religious thinking, anti-science, suppression of knowledge, fundamentalism, religion, doctrine, the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Galileo Galilei, pope Urban VIII.
    Original version drawn: 1996
    Cartoon reference: rel014
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  • Atheism cartoon – an atheist at the gates of heaven

    atheist cartoon - at the gates of heaven

    Atheism cartoon
    An atheist at the pearly gates

    Where do atheists go when they die?
    An atheist dies and finds himself at the gates of heaven. He is saying “I don’t believe it!”

    A cartoon about religion, religious belief systems, the pearly gates, St Peter, the afterlife.
    (By the way, I’m an atheist myself, in case you thought that this was an anti-atheism joke)

    Original version drawn: 2001
    Cartoon reference number: rel013
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  • Cartoon. The search for fulfilment and the pursuit of happiness

    Search for fulfilment - hang gliding

    Cartoon about the search for fulfilment
    Cartoon about happiness and aspiration

    A person floating above the world in a hang glider, but thinking “There must be more to life than this”

    A cartoon about life quests, satisfaction, contentment, boredom, never being satisfied, acquisitiveness, material wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing, spirituality, dissatisfaction, religion
    Cartoon reference number: hap001
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  • Cartoon – seeking your True Self or Authentic Self

    Seeking true self in the mountains

    Cartoon – seeking one’s “True Self”

    An idealistic young man on a spiritual quest to find his true self in the mountains of the east (Following the tradition of the hippies of the late 1960s).
    He comes across a version of himself from a few years in the future, dressed as a conservative businessman, showing what he is going to become as his attitudes and priorities change with age.

    The cartoon was drawn in 1991 when the phrase “True Self” was in vogue. In the 2020s, with its emphasis on identity politics, the phrase “Authentic Self” is popular.
    A cartoon about spiritual quests, personal identity, identity politics, seeking, seekers, eastern enlightenment, mysticism, religion, buddhism, eastern spirituality.

    This cartoon was a very popular greetings card published by Paperlink.

    Drawn: 1991

    Cartoon reference number: tru001
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  • Guru cartoon – western businessman seeking the meaning of life

    Guru meaning of life cartoon

    Spirituality cartoon

    An eastern guru being asked what’s the meaning of life by a businessman who’s too busy and distracted to listen to the answer

    A cartoon about religion, religious purpose, spiritual quests, seeking meaning, cultural determinism, materialism

    This design was published as a greetings card by Paperlink.
    Drawn: 2003
    Cartoon reference number: lif001
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  • Eastern mysticism cartoon. The rejection of materialism

    Guru pronouncing that possessions and money are meaningless.

    Eastern guru cartoon
    Spirituality cartoon
    Religion cartoon

    An eastern guru pronouncing that possessions and money are meaningless. A westerner listening to him asking him if he can give him fifty pounds in that case.
    The cartoon was published as a greetings card by Paperlink

    A cartoon about acquisitiveness, anti-materialism, materialism, spiritual values. devotee, buddhism

    Cartoon reference number: mys007
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  • Religion cartoon. Would everlasting life in heaven be an eternity of boredom (i.e. hell)?

    Cartoon - Eternal life is so boring it's hell

    Cartoon about heaven and hell
    Everlasting life as an eternity of boredom – cartoon

    A soul in heaven, sitting on a cloud, finding that everlasting life in heaven is so boring that it’s actually hell
    I realise that everlasting life in heaven would have no dimension of time, and thus wouldn’t be tedious, but then – why be everlasting if the term has no meaning?

    A cartoon about the down side of life after death – eternal tedium, boredom or ennui – possibly it’s a fate worse than death

    Cartoon drawn: 2009
    Cartoon reference number: rel004
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  • Creation myth cartoon. Cavemen debate the nature of the universe

    Creation myth cave painting - cartoon

    Primitive creation myths cartoon
    Prehistoric cave painting cartoon

    Cartoon of cavemen debating the nature of the universe.
    The birth of religion.

    A cartoon about the possibility that people would rather believe what they want to believe rather than what actually is. We all do this. It’s also about the fact that our caveman ancestors were probably more intelligent and aware than is sometimes thought. They had to be to survive, after all
    Cartoon reference number: rel002
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  • Religious literalism cartoon – a holy book taken literally and stifling rational thought

    Holy book crushing rationality

    Religious literalism cartoon
    Religious fundamentalism cartoon

    An illustration of the concept that taking religious texts too literally inhibits rational analysis

     

    A cartoon about religion, fundamentalism, rationality, irrationality, atheism, atheists, bigotry, religious zealots, zealotry
    Cartoon drawn: 2008
    Cartoon reference number: rel001
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  • The nature of competition

    People creating the lines on a race track - racing against each other themselves

    A cartoon about competitiveness in sport or about human nature. Or both.

    It’s essentially a cartoon about the nature of competitiveness and how it’s an innate component of the human psyche or personality.

    The cartoon depicts people drawing the white lines of an athletics track, and spontaneously racing against each other in the process.
    Cartoon drawn: 2009
    Cartoon reference number:spt002
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  • Dna cartoons – dna as a ladder

    Genetics cartoon: the dna double helix as a ladder

    Genetics cartoon
    DNA cartoon

    The dna double helix as a ladder, with a person climbing up it

    The shape of the dna double helix makes it easy to use the dna molecule in metaphors about the nature of life (at both the physically and psychological levels). Here it’s being used as a ladder to invoke the idea of live as a journey (again both physically and psychologically, with the physical aspects being anything from evolution over eons to the length of a single human life)
    Cartoon reference number: gen004

  • Transport cartoon: traffic jam symbolising lack of progress

    transport cartoon - traffic at a standstill

    Transport system cartoon
    Environment cartoon

    A cartoon about the concept of progress
    Is (some) progress an illusion?
    Is (some) progress a good thing?

    Cars at a standstill in a traffic jam symbolising progress (or the lack of it) in transport planning and in the excessive use of cars as personal transport.
    It is also a cartoon about the philosophical question of whether progress is necessarily a good thing
    Cartoon reference number: env050

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    A more recent version of this cartoon can be found here

  • The Tree Of Knowledge Discovering What Paper is Made From

    Cartoon: the tree of knowledge discovering that paper is made from wood

    Cartoon: the tree of knowledge reading a book, and discovering that paper is made from trees
    A cartoon about the saying ‘ignorance is bliss’

    A cartoon about the acquisition of knowledge and its possible unsettling consequences

    The cartoon can be interpreted as being about the fact that humans are aware of their own mortality due to their level of awareness
    Cartoon reference: env118
    Cartoon drawn: 1991

  • Cartoon – a danger of extreme moral conviction

    Moral-scary-Bin-Laden-Blair-cartoon-madden

    Cartoon – the danger of moral certainty or of strong moral conviction

    Cartoon showing Osama Bin Laden proclaiming jihad against the west, and Tony Blair declaring war. Both men were probably convinced of their moral rightness.

    The caption of the carton is “These guys with their righteous moral certainty are really scary.”
    A cartoon about islamic jihad, islamist extremism, christianity, crusades, intervention
    Cartoon reference number: a514