Philosophy of Humour: New Perspectives (Value Inquiry Book, 389)

Front Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Contents Notes on Contributors Part 1 Humour and the History of Philosophy Chapter 1 Something Better Than Comedy 1 Remarks on Terminology 2 Comedy in Plato 3 Deep Comedy 4 Beyond Comedy? 5 Conclusion References Chapter 2 Sublime, Beautiful, Funny: Humour in §54 of Kant’s Third Critique 1 Introduction 2 Pure Aesthetic Judgement and Ordinary Cognition 3 Kant on Humour 4 Reconstructive Readings of §54 4.1 Marmysz: the Funny as an Unthreatening Sublime 4.2 Hounsokou: the Funny as a Subspecies of the Beautiful and the Sublime 4.3 Giamaro: the Funny as a Condition of the Beautiful and the Sublime 4.4 Meredith: the Funny as a Third Species of Aesthetic Judgement 5 Conclusion References Chapter 3 The Comic as an Existential Category in Kierkegaard’s Thought 1 Introduction 2 A Note on Terminology 3 Kierkegaard’s Definitions of Irony 4 Kierkegaard’s Concept of Humour 5 Conclusions Acknowledgements References Part 2 New Theoretical Contributions Chapter 4 Prolegomena to a Revised Theory of Humour 1 Introduction 2 The Incongruity Theory and Its Resolution as the Best among the Classical Theories 3 Problems with the Incongruity Theory and Some Possible Solutions 4 Objections and Replies 5 Conclusion Acknowledgements References Chapter 5 ‘Aha!/Haha! – That’s a Good One!’ On the Correlation of Laughter and Understanding in Joke Reception 1 Form 2 Performance 3 Background Conditions 4 Performative Conditions 5 Laughter 6 Two Models of Understanding-Laughter Correlation: U-L and L-[U]‌ 7 Model of Simultaneity: L/U 8 Conclusion References Chapter 6 Hidden Congruities 1 Introduction 2 A Brief Summary of the Three Main Classical Theories: Superiority, Incongruity and Relief 3 What Some Contemporary Comedians Say about Humour and Comedy 4 Hidden Congruities? 4.1 First Congruity: Social-Cultural Context or Affinity 4.2 Second Congruity: Matching-Up Mechanism 4.3 Third Congruity: Pluralism of Classical Theories 5 Jokes and Humour as Crucial Social Forms of Sublimation 6 Final Remarks: Superiority, Truth and Social Activism Acknowledgements References Part 3 Humour, Morality, Feminism and Politics Chapter 7 Fat Jokes and the Problem of Parody 1 The Ambiguity of Humour and the Problem of Parody 2 Application: Prejudice Creep 3 Is It Okay to Joke about Fat People? 3.1 Self-Deprecating Humour 3.2 Fatphobic Humour vs. Racist Humour 3.3 Morally Responsible Humour 4 Conclusion Acknowledgements References Chapter 8 A Funny Taste: Immoral Humour and Unwilling Amusement 1 Introduction 2 A Funny Taste 3 Farce of Habit 4 Concluding Remarks Acknowledgements References Chapter 9 Feminism’s Look at Itself: Self-Hygiene through the Prism of Laughter 1 Introduction 2 Ethics in Giving Account of Oneself by Judith Butler: Guidelines for Reforming the Relationship with Oneself and the Other 3 Feminist Laughter: Luce Irigaray, Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva 4 Transcendental Laughter 5 Incongruity: Freedom from the Usual Forms of Thinking 6 Liberation Theory 7 Conclusion References Chapter 10 The Carnival of Populism: Grotesque Leadership 1 Introduction 2 François Rabelais: Folk Humour, Carnival Culture and the Grotesque 3 Carnivalization of Politics: the People, Subversion of Hierarchy, Political Incorrectness and the King of the Fools 4 Ubuesque Humour: How a Buffoon Becomes a King 5 Conclusion References Index Back Cover This volume aims to reignite interest in a sorely neglected field within philosophy: the philosophy of humour. Indeed, although humour, jokes and laughter make up a quintessentially human domain of extreme universal importance, it has not received the sustained and involved attention and investigation that it merits. This volume draws on theories both distant and more nearby in order to contemporize the discussion into the 21st century, with each of the ten contributions demonstrating just how many perspectives and conversations are to be had, both on theoretical and concrete levels, now and going forward.