HUMOR AND PHILOSOPHY

There are many philosophical conundrums in American culture: Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing? Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing? Why do "tug" boats push their barges? Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there? Why is it called "after dark" when it is really "after light"? Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected? Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites? Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things? Why is “bra” singular and “panties” plural? Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

The attached PowerPoint tells what each of the following philosophers have said about humor: Plato (424-348 BCE), Aristotle (384-322 BCE), Cicero (Born in 106 BCE), Seneca (4 BCE-AD 65), St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.), René Descartes (1595-1650 A.D.), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), William Spencer (1769-1834), William Hazlitt (1778-1830), Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Friedrich Nietsche (1844-1900), Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Henri Bergson, (1859-1941), Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), and Albert Camus (1913-1960).

John Morreall, a Professor of Religious Studies at William and Mary College points to the philosophical differences associated with having a Comic Vision vs. a Tragic Vision of Life. He also lists these Social Differences and says that most “new” religions promote the Comic Vision.

Anti-Heroism vs. Heroism

Pacifism vs. Militarism

Forgiveness vs. Vengeance

Social Equality vs. Inequality

Questioning vs. Acceptance of Authority

Situation Ethics vs. Duty Ethics

Social Integration vs. Social Isolation