Editing 220: Philosophy

{{comic
| number    = 220
| date      = February 7, 2007
| title     = Philosophy
| image     = philosophy.png
| titletext = It's like the squirt bottle we use with the cat.
}}

==Explanation==
In all of {{w|philosophy}}, perhaps the most important questions consider the {{w|meaning of life}} and can be expressed as "Why are we here?" or "What does it all mean?" Many philosophers and theologians have attempted to answer the question over the course of human history, and every religion claims to have some sort of answer.

[[Megan]] has been considering that the question is essentially meaningless. However, if that is true, she can't understand why it continues to be in her thoughts. This might feel frustrating for Megan. Two of her friends (both [[Cueball]]-like) notice that she is seemingly stuck in this existential question and have a short-term solution for her. One friend reaches for a {{w|Super Soaker}} 50, a powerful toy squirt gun, to shoot at [[Megan]] while she is having an {{w|existential crisis}}. (Megan uses this soaker later against Cueball in [[517: Marshmallow Gun]] and [[2334: Slide Trombone]], and in comic [[625: Collections]], she has another one of her crises.)

The title text refers to the {{w|operant conditioning}} technique (a form of behavioral modification) commonly used with house cats. If they start scratching the furniture, many people spray them with a squirt bottle (since they hate water) to discourage that behavior (though it seldom works).  It may also allude to the idea of hitting a break key where a program is stuck in a logical loop.

Megan has since this comic had existential crises both in [[1111: Premiere]] and in [[1822: Existential Bug Reports]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan sits on a chair for two panels without moving.]

:[In the third panel, Megan has still not moved but makes the following comment to no one in particular.]
:Megan: If the question of what it all means doesn't mean anything, why do I keep coming back to it? 

:[Two Cueball-like friends of Megan are talking to each other. One of them is standing behind the office chair in which the other friend is sitting, behind a desk with a computer. The standing friend starts to walk toward Megan. The sitting friend pulls a large yellow and green super soaker from a drawer.]
:Standing friend: She's getting existential again.
:Sitting friend: It's okay, I have a super soaker.

==Trivia==
*[[Randall]] himself uploaded the strip's fourth panel to {{w|Wikimedia Commons}} ([http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xkcd_philosophy.png here]) for use on {{w|xkcd|''xkcd's'' Wikipedia article}}. xkcd is licenced under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ this] {{w|Creative Commons license}}, which is incompatible with [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ this] CC license that Wikipedia uses, because the latter allows commercial use. Randall says {{w|Talk:Primer (film)/Archive 1#xkcd|here}} that he is willing to unlock more strips to Commons for similar purposes.

{{comic discussion}}
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[[Category:Philosophy]]