Monty Python Philosophy Football | History Teacher Reacts

The greatest philosophers from Greece and Germany go head to head in football! Will they be able to work together to win the game? Who will win in this hilarious skit from Monty Python?

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[rogeriopenna]

How could Germany win when they clearly used Karl Marx on the right wing, knowing he plays much better on the left wing?

[personperson.]

Diogenes was meant to play but he was banned for inappropriate behaviour on the sideline

[MachivelianBear]

"There’s the referee, Confucius, and he’s looking very bemused. And at the Germans now are arguing, Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant, via the categorical imperative, is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside!”

[sameebah]

What I love about Monty Python is that when I first watched it in my early teens I enjoyed the silliness and slapstick elements.
I'm now in my 60s, and each decade I have rewatched and seen extra depths.

[jimb]

Possibly my favourite sketch of all time.
The French were strong favourites, but as they were all heavy smokers, it didn't work out.
The Romans didn't make it to the finals, they just built the stadia.

[winniemarvel]

The Philosophy Football was shown at the Hollywood Bowl. However, this clip was originally part of "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus", a two-part German version produced by Monty Python and German broadcasters for the German market in 1971 and 1972. Eric Idle once said, "The Germans came to us and said, 'Look, we don't have a sense of humor, but we understand that you do. Can we use yours?'". I am still grateful to Alfred Biolek, a German producer and entertainer who had the idea for these two Monty Python specials.

[skogstjuven]

franz beckenbauer was real football players but he was so good at it they call him The Philosophers. that why is so funny.

[astronelson]

The Greek team tried to get Zeno of Elea but he said it would be impossible for him to get to any of the matches.

[herrhartmann]

Franz Beckenbauer was known as a very smart player, extremely team oriented, and deeply devoted to Fair Play.
If the German Philosophers were to include an actual football player in their team, it would most certainly be Beckenbauer.

[ackbarfan]

“And Marx was claiming it was offsides!” 😂

[peterconnor]

Thanks for reacting, Michael Palin and Terry Jones were both history graduates, so they infused so a lot of history into there sketches, The Spanish Inquisition probably being the most famous.

[adamlatosinski]

It was the most important Cup in Sokrates's life.

[deejmalik]

Marx was right and was focused on the material conditions which was on brand

[leew]

As with a lot of what the Python crew did, because they were all very intelligent in their own rights, this is absolutely genius.

[Hexon]

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the silly/stupid funny Monty Python (I'd put 'the Knights who say 'Ni' and the Black Knight in that category), but the clever funny like this, and "Romanes eunt domus", is where they really shine.

[ianpark]

The Germans would have won if it had gone to a penalty shoot out. ‘Confucius say ‘name go in book’ will never not be funny.

[jasonharris]

There was actually a brilliant Brazilian footballer by the name of Socrates. He famously played in the fantastic Brazil team that should have won the 1982 World Cup.

[bobholtzmann]

I also like the elderly English women going to France to settle an argument over the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre.

[inhumanmusic]

Showed this to a friend at work and he absolutely loved it. We used to talk a lot together about history.

[floretion]

Great reaction! The Pythons were also historians themselves, allowing them to shine in The Life of Brian among other things. Terry Jones wrote several books on medieval history.