"International Philosophy", commonly referred to as the Philosophers' Football Match, is a Monty Python sketch depicting a football match in the Munich Olympiastadion between philosophers representing Greece and Germany.
Starring in the sketch are Archimedes (John Cleese), Socrates (Eric Idle), Hegel (Graham Chapman), Nietzsche (Michael Palin), Marx (Terry Jones), and Kant (Terry Gilliam).
Palin also provides the match television commentary.
The footage opens with the banner headline "International Philosophy", and Palin providing the narrative.
Confucius is the referee and keeps times with an hourglass.
St.
Thomas Aquinas and St.
Augustine (sporting haloes) serve as linesmen.[1] The German manager is Martin Luther.
The match is designed as a World Cup for the most well-known western philosophers made global with Confucius arbitrating the match.
As play begins, the philosophers break from their proper football positions only to walk around on the pitch as if deeply pondering, and in some cases declaiming their theories.[1] Franz Beckenbauer, the sole genuine footballer on the pitch and a "surprise inclusion" in the German team, is left more than a little confused.