important-moments-in-philosophy
Explanation
The Joke
Under the banner "Important Moments in Philosophy," a woman is on a date with Friedrich Nietzsche and expresses hesitation about sleeping together. Nietzsche responds to each of her objections by quoting his own philosophy, completely out of context, to pressure her into sex. When she says she does not know if they should sleep together, he declares "Morality is the herd instinct of the individual!" When she says it is just a bad idea, he proclaims "I will teach you the Overman!" When she tries to explain she has secondary stage syphilis, he grandly quotes "The happiness of man is: I will. The happiness of woman is: He wills." After all of this, the woman in the final panel deadpans: "Take off your pants."
The punchline works in two directions. First, Nietzsche is being depicted as a terrible date who uses grandiose philosophical pronouncements to dodge practical concerns and coerce a woman into bed. Second, the woman's warning about syphilis was genuinely important -- Nietzsche famously suffered from what many historians believe was tertiary syphilis, which contributed to his mental collapse. By ignoring her warning, he may be sealing his own fate.
The Humor
The comedy arises from Nietzsche's philosophical ideas being recontextualized as the world's most pretentious pickup lines. Quotes about the Overman and the herd instinct of morality sound profound in a philosophy seminar but are hilariously inappropriate as responses to a woman saying she has an STD. The final panel inverts expectations -- instead of the woman continuing to resist, she gives in with a resigned "Take off your pants," suggesting that either Nietzsche's absurd persistence worked, or she has decided that if he will not listen to her warning about syphilis, that is his problem.
References
The comic references several real Nietzsche quotes and concepts. "Morality is the herd instinct of the individual" is from The Gay Science (1882). The "Overman" (Ubermensch) is a central concept from Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), referring to a higher form of human being who creates their own values. "The happiness of man is: I will. The happiness of woman is: He wills" is from Thus Spoke Zarathustra and reflects Nietzsche's notoriously retrograde views on women. The syphilis reference alludes to the long-standing (though debated) historical theory that Nietzsche contracted syphilis, which caused the progressive neurological deterioration that led to his mental breakdown in 1889 and eventual death in 1900.