Recent Comments

1. about 1 year ago on Tom the Dancing Bug

   Yes, the drift in its meaning probably comes from the fact that “begging the question” is a rather oblique translation of “petitio principii” to begin with (which is more literally “appealing to the principle”). It helps to think of “the question” here not as a question per se, but as “the thing that’s at issue.” So, the idea is that in order to prove the claim that’s under dispute, you’re “begging” (appealing to) the very thing that’s at issue (the principle that you’re trying to prove).

2. about 1 year ago on Tom the Dancing Bug

   It gets used all the time in logic and philosophy contexts. The specific fallacy it refers to is still one we need to have a name for, after all. I concede that its mistaken use has essentially supplanted its original use in common speech and there’s nothing anyone can do about that now, but I can tell you that people in these fields still use it in its original form. (I’m a philosophy professor.)

3. over 1 year ago on Over the Hedge

   Came here for this, was not disappointed.

4. almost 2 years ago on Monty

   I love Squonty, please bring him back soon!!!

5. about 2 years ago on Over the Hedge

   Honestly they missed their big chance to introduce a female character that isn’t an embarrassingly over-feminized disaster when they made the T. Rex male. Characters don’t have to look like they’re in a drag show to be female.

6. over 2 years ago on Lio

   According to Quote Investigator, it’s from a book by gymnast Dan Millman. I work in the field of philosophy so fake Socrates and Plato quotes make me crazy. Also the rule of thumb is that if you see a Socrates or Plato quote on the Internet (or in a comic strip…) it’s fake. This rule works probably 99% of the time. Never trust a Plato/Socrates quote that can’t at least cite what dialogue it comes from. And there’s also the fact that Socrates left no written works so any quote attributed to him is at best quoting Plato, who wasn’t really in the business of writing histories.

7. over 2 years ago on Lio

   I was just coming here to say that, thanks for getting there first!

8. almost 3 years ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Wow, this is not only the same art as 1/22/2020, it’s almost the same gag. Rat’s dialogue differs in panels 3 and 4, but all other dialogue is the same. (How do I remember that? Because I’m a philosophy professor and I have shown the 1/22/2020 strip in classes, so I have it in my file of class-related comics.)

9. almost 3 years ago on Monty

   I think Moondog is confused as Nitro has no inversions!

10. over 3 years ago on Pearls Before Swine

    Uh… I have an alarm clock.