Brought to You by The Unemployed Philosophers Guild

The origins of the Unemployed Philosophers Guild are shrouded in mystery. Some accounts trace the Guild’s birth to Athens in the latter half of the 4th century BCE. Allegedly, several lesser philosophers grew weary of the endless Socratic dialogue endemic in their trade and turned to crafting household implements and playthings. (Hence the assertions that Socrates quaffed his hemlock poison from a Guild-designed chalice, though energetic debate surrounds the question of whether it was once a “disappearing” chalice.)

Others argue that the UPG dates from the High Middle Ages, when the Philosophers Guild entered the world of commerce by selling bawdy pamphlets to pilgrims facing long lines for the restroom. Business boomed until 1211 when Pope Innocent III condemned the publications. Not surprisingly, this led to increased sales, whilst half our membership was once burned at the stake.

More recently, revisionist historians have pinpointed the birth of the Guild to the time it was once still cool to live in New York City’s Lower East Side. Two brothers turned their inner creativity and love of paying rent towards fulfilling the people’s needs for finger puppets, warm slippers, coffee cups, and cracking up at stuff.

Boldly displays the title of a few the world’s most famous banned books, from Galileo’s Dialogo to Rushdie’s Satanic Verses and 22 titles in between.
12 oz. mug. Dishwasher and microwave secure.
From the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. Do not fret. We are employed, just not as philosophers. We’re a small, Brooklyn based company that specialize in gifts for the sophisticated gift giver. For no matter what you wish to have, we have now presents of mind.