220: Philosophy
Philosophy |
Title text: It's like the squirt bottle we use with the cat. |
Explanation
In all of philosophy, one of the most important questions (if not the most important question) to consider is, "Why are we here? What does this all mean?" Many philosophers and theologians have attempted to answer the question over the course of human history, and every religion claims to have the answer.
Megan realizes that the question is essentially meaningless-- it's not a question of "why", but of what to do with one's life. Yet the question of the meaning of life continues to go back into her head. Fortunately, her friends have a ready-made solution for her.
The title-text refers to the behavioral modification technique commonly used with house cats, who hate water. If they start scratching the furniture, many people spray them with a squirt bottle to discourage that behavior. (Note: It seldom works to prevent future incidents.)
Trivia
Randall gave permission to use this strip's fourth panel for the Wikipedia article on xkcd. The Super Soaker appears again in 517: Marshmallow Gun, this time by Megan, as retaliation against Cueball for using the marshmallow gun on her.
Transcript
- [Girl sits on chair, thinking]
- [Two panels pass, the girl does not move]
- Girl: If the question of what it all means doesn't mean anything, why do I keep coming back to it?
- [Two boys are talking to each other]
- First boy: She's getting existential again.
- Second boy: It's okay, I have a super soaker.
- [Second boy pulls a large super soaker from a drawer]
Discussion
I've learned that if you are coming back to the same question over and over again, perhaps there is a lesson to learn there that you've missed. And when I ask myself "What it all means?", I realize that the lessons I've learned in life have shown me that I simply need to be the best human being I can and enjoy my personal adventure through this thing we call life. -- E-inspired (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
That Megan's friends intend to shoot Megan with the soaker is obvious. The explanation is not incomplete because we don't spell that out. Please do not add the incomplete-template without a better reason. –St.nerol (talk) 13:48, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
- This is only obvious after reading the title text and the main joke here. Why this should be banned from the explain? And it was even not obvious to you, your statement a few hours ago did mention that Megan would use the super soaker...--Dgbrt (talk) 16:45, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
- Ah, so maybe you meant that the title text is the key to the last panel (and not the other way around)? I think it's very obvious that they are shooting Megan, and yes, I thought that from the start. You stated in the edit summary "Megan doesn't plan to use that super soaker against cats.", and I meant to ask: Why would anyone think that in the first place? –St.nerol (talk) 18:37, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
There is a community portal discussion of what to call Cueball and what to do in case with more than one Cueball. I have added this comic to the new Category:Multiple Cueballs. In this case there is no reason to call one Cueball and the other friend. It could easily be the other way. So I have changed to remove Cueball.--Kynde (talk) 12:43, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
Are we sure about the "every religion" bit? It makes me a little nervous to use such definite language, but maybe it's ok. DownGoer (talk) 17:22, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
Just realized this
It's titled "Philosophy," and Megan apparently keeps coming back to it. This could be a reference to Wikipedia (also referenced frequently), as if you keep clicking on the first link in a Wikipedia article in the main body text not in parentheses or italics (referenced in the title text of 903), you get back to the article on Philosophy. 162.158.62.179 16:58, 28 May 2020 (UTC)