If you’ve ever pondered the universe at 2 a.m. or spiraled into a debate with yourself about free will while the number of unread emails in your inbox grows to three figures, you’ve probably spent some time philosophizing about life. So it should be easy enough to then also reach the conclusion that philosophy, much like everything else, can be made into a meme.
We’ve gathered some of the best (or what we think are the best, who is really to say) posts from this group dedicated to hilarious and relatable philosophy memes. So get comfortable as you ponder the meaning of life, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments down below.
#1 Please, Guys, I Don’t Want To Feel Like I’m The Only One
Image source: Aggressive_Sprinkles
#2
Image source: Sage_Magic
#3 There’s No Way Out Of It
Image source: reddit.com
Philosophy memes have become an entire genre of internet humor that turns thousands of years of heavy intellectual thought into digestible jokes that make you question your existence while you’re supposed to be working. Classical philosophers may have been sulking loners lost in their existential musings, but modern philosophers and philosophy students were born in the age of the Internet, the time when nothing makes sense and everything can be turned into a meme.
The result is a peculiar brand of comedy where Nietzsche’s existential dread meets modern anxiety about student loans and you get a Drake meme comparing optimistic nihilism to pessimistic nihilism.
#4 How I Annoy My Friends
Image source: Laughingboy14
#5 Modern vs. Traditional Philosophy
Image source: reddit.com
#6 Fixed For The AI Age
Image source: TraditionalDepth6924
Philosophy memes take heavyweight ideas and twist them into quick laughs, condensing centuries of thought into bite-sized images that turn Plato’s cave into a late-night talk show set. You’ll find metaphysics memes arguing whether a dropped pen truly exists and epistemology memes questioning how you know you actually read the caption. The beauty of philosophy memes is that they make ancient wisdom feel accessible without dumbing it down too much, though your actual philosophy professor might disagree about the nuance being lost when you reduce Kant’s categorical imperative to a two-panel comic.
#7 The First Philosopher
Image source: officialgod_
#8 Ethics Debate
Image source: Pitiful-Magician1704
#9 Philomena Cunk On Philosophy
Image source: pnerd314
The sense of self-awareness translated through memes shares striking similarities to philosopher Albert Camus’ notion of absurdism, which is probably the most meta thing about the whole phenomenon. Generation Z has essentially weaponized existential dread and repackaged it as entertainment, using memes that remark things like “I may look fly but I want to die” to cope with an uncertain future. Perhaps the poignancy of meme humor lies in that Gen Z has no other choice but to embrace the absurdity of the future, using the tool they know best to lighten the weight with a little levity.
#10 German Idealism Hasn’t Been Ideal
Image source: LeonTablet
#11 Gettier It?
Image source: ZoeyBeschamel
#12 We In It Together!
Image source: girldz
Now let’s imagine what meme formats historical philosophers might have enjoyed if they had access to the internet. Socrates would have absolutely crushed it with the “change my mind” format, setting up a table in the Athenian agora with a sign reading “I know that I know nothing, change my mind” and then proceeding to question everyone who approached until they either had an existential crisis or walked away confused. He’d probably also enjoy the “annoying orange” format because annoying people with questions until they reconsidered their entire worldview was literally his whole thing.
#13 69
Image source: imrubysummers
#14 Gubberment
Image source: shroomordoom
#15 *Screams In Broke*
Image source: MizterE
Plato would be all over the “distracted boyfriend” meme, using it to illustrate the allegory of the cave with the boyfriend representing humans, the girlfriend he’s ignoring as the real forms, and the other woman he’s checking out as the mere shadows on the cave wall. He’d probably also appreciate the “they don’t know” party meme, where he’s standing in the corner at a party thinking “they don’t know about the world of forms” while everyone else is just trying to have a good time.
#16 The Genealogy Of Morals (Summarized)
Image source: reddit.com
#17 Vivamus, Moriendum Est
Image source: conspiracyangel1
#18 It Really Be Like That
Image source: Bakedbrains
Descartes would obviously be the king of the “I think therefore I am” meme variations, probably creating hundreds of increasingly absurd versions like “I meme therefore I am” or “I overthink therefore I have anxiety.” He’d also love the “is this a pigeon” meme for its ability to question the nature of perception and reality, using it to ask “is this a reliable sensory experience” while pointing at literally anything.
#19 Shady Things
Image source: BluepantsMcgee
#20 It Do Be Like That
Image source: MulTiProG
#21 Basically Stoicism
Image source: arghyab0
Nietzsche would have a field day with the “God is dead and we killed him” jokes, probably turning it into increasingly dark humor about the death of meaning and the rise of nihilism. He’d definitely be into edgy meme culture and would probably run one of those accounts that posts things at 3am that make you question everything. The “this is fine” dog sitting in a burning room would be peak Nietzsche energy, perfectly capturing his philosophy that we should embrace suffering and create our own meaning despite the chaos.
#22
Image source: Willing-Bathroom6095
#23 Found On Instagram
Image source: Neat_Attorney_5414
#24 Can’t Really Argue There
Image source: Manan1_618
Kant would probably be too busy trying to create the perfect categorical imperative for meme-making to actually post anything, writing lengthy treatises about the moral implications of viral content. If he did post, he’d probably use the “expanding brain” meme to illustrate different levels of moral reasoning, starting with “acting morally because you’ll get in trouble” and ending with “acting morally because it’s your duty according to universal law.”
#25 Amor Fati Runnin Real Thin Huh
Image source: SQUIDDYYYYY
#26 Real
Image source: Ok_Yesterday09
#27 I Feel Like You All Will Enjoy This
Image source: RaphAttack11
Diogenes would be the ultimate troll, living in a barrel and posting cynical hot takes about society while philosophers debated him in the comments. He’d probably just post pictures of himself doing increasingly absurd things to mock social conventions, basically inventing performance art memes centuries before the internet existed. The “reject modernity, embrace tradition” meme would be his except it would say “reject civilization, live in a barrel.”
#28 The Ultimate Test Of A Self Governing People
Image source: samero4
#29 Most Ambitious Crossover Event… Etc
Image source: Moshcloud
#30 Yeah
Image source: reddit.com
The fact that we can imagine these scenarios says something profound about how memes have become a universal language for expressing complex ideas. Philosophy memes work because they take concepts that once required years of study to grasp and make them immediately relatable through humor, proving that maybe the best way to get people interested in life’s big questions is to make them laugh first and think second.
#31 Average R/Philosophy User
Image source: Glittering_Gain6589
#32 Every Time I Am Rereading Schopenhauer’s Essays …
Image source: IronSilly4970
#33 Have You Guys Heard Of Diogenes? Probably Not Its A Philosophy Reference
Image source: reddit.com
#34 Timmy Gets A Tattoo
Image source: Laughingboy14
#35 I See You, Scroller
Image source: s0md3v
#36 These Determinists Are Gonna Make Me A Solipsist
Image source: SPECTREagent700
#37 Oc – Admit It
Image source: DadaAeternis
#38 Well
Image source: heelMAVERICK
#39 Be A Shame
Image source: Laughingboy14
#40 Socrates Banned From Twitter
Image source: tooqay
#41 Diogenes Wouldn’t Approve
Image source: Stormageddon18
#42 Argument From Biden
Image source: newjordanism
#43 F.r.i.e.n.d.s
Image source: bhavishyafreelance
#44 Oh Man
Image source: reddit.com
#45 No
Image source: dead_meme_comrade
#46 Booooyaaaaah!!
Image source: yamarajjunglee
#47 He Do Be Do
Image source: iixMarty
#48 Monkey.jpg
Image source: mini1337s
#49 I Get It Now
Image source: Prestigious_Sugar_66
#50 Phd In Avoiding Employment Through Epistemology
Image source: 3rob-
#51 Oc
Image source: reddit.com
#52 He Must Be Smart!
Image source: The_Coder0
#53 Arguing Against Yourself Is The Real Deal
Image source: Merged_Indigo
#54 No Fate Escapes My Scorn
Image source: BluepantsMcgee
#55 Worst Philosophers?
Image source: Unfair-Secretary-882
#56 Reminder That
Image source: Mr_L-2004
#57 Tradition Moment
Image source: funkymirror
#58 Gatekeeping Mandatory Logic Requirements
Image source: BluepantsMcgee
#59 Bet The Thief Was Into Hegel
Image source: SirRousseau
#60 I Got A Degree In Philosophy Just To Find Out Mc Hammer Is Better At It Then Me
Image source: great-big-gord
#61 What In The Franz Kafka
Image source: Dungeon_Geek
#62 Sisyphus Moment
Image source: raddiexaddie
#63 Christianity And It’s Consequences Have Been A Disaster For The Human Race
Image source: paulswag
#64 I Declare War
Image source: Emthree3
#65 What The Allegory Of The Cave Is Actually About
Image source: Practical-Gas-5227
#66 Sigmund? More Like Sickmind
Image source: Luki_pot_smoker
#67 Indeed
Image source: reddit.com
#68 Ship Of Thesaurus
Image source: smeggysmeg
#69 🖤
Image source: BackgroundNorth4484
#70 Consciousness Is A Very Interesting Thing
Image source: FearlessAdeptness373
#71 Probably?
Image source: pseudoCunt
#72 Is Nature Mocking Us?
Image source: mal221
#73 Nihilism
Image source: pnerd314
#74 When First Year Philosophy Discover The Concept Of Social Constructs
Image source: TuvixWasMurderedR1P
#75 How To Be A Famous Philosopher
Image source: pyrrhicvictorylap
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