Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak Through Philosophy and Jokes

Summary

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein aren’t falling for any election-year claptrap—and they don’t want their readers to, either! In Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington, our two favorite philosopher-comedians return just in time to save us from the doublespeak and flimflam of politics in America.

Deploying jokes and cartoons as well as the occasional insight from Aristotle and his peers, Cathcart and Klein explain what politicos are up to when they state: “The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence” (Donald Rumsfeld), “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” (Bill Clinton), or even, “We hold these truths to be self-evident …” (Thomas Jefferson et al.).

Drawing from the pronouncements of everyone from Caesar to Condoleezza Rice, Genghis Khan to Hillary Clinton, and Adolf Hitler to Al Sharpton, Cathcart and Klein help us learn to identify tricks like “The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy” (non causa pro causa) and “The Fallacy Fallacy” (argumentum ad logicam). Aristotle and an Aardvark is for anyone who ever felt the politicians and pundits were speaking Greek. At least Cathcart and Klein provide us with the Latin for it (fraudatio publica)!