The philosophy of humour / Paul McDonald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McDonald, Paul.

Series:

Philosophy insights.

Philosophy insights

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Laughter.

Wit and humor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (138 p.)

Place of Publication:

Penrith, CA : HEB Humanities E-Books, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Comic novelist and critic Paul McDonald explores the philosophy of humour in a book that will appeal to philosophers and creative writers alike. One aim of this book is to assess theories of humour and laughter. It concentrates mainly on philosophical approaches to humour- including those of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Descartes, Hobbes, Bergson, Kant, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Freud and Bakhtin, but also explores such fields as cultural studies, literary theory, religion, psychoanalysis, and psychology; this broad focus makes for a richer account of humour, its relationship with philosophical thought, and its bearing on the human condition. Readers are invited to engage in creative writing exercises designed to exploit this crucial facet of humour, and to help them explore relevant issues imaginatively. In this way they will deepen their understanding of those issues, whilst at the same time cultivating their own creative skills.

Contents:

""Cover""; ""Licence and Use ""; ""Title Page ""; ""Copyright Notice ""; ""CONTENTS ""; ""Acknowledgments ""; ""1. Introduction ""; ""1.1 Humour or Laughter?""; ""2. The Origins and Evolution of Humour ""; ""2.1 The Emergence of Humour""; ""2.2 The Benefits of Humour""; ""2.3 Is Humour an Emotion?""; ""3. The Earliest Philosophies of Humour ""; ""3.1 Plato""; ""3.2 Aristotle""; ""3.3 Cicero""; ""4. Superiority Theories of Humour ""; ""4.1 Rene Descartes: The Benefits of Ridicule ""; ""4.2 Thomas Hobbes: Sudden Glory""; ""4.3 Henri Bergson: The Mechanical Encrusted on the Living""

""7.1 John Morreall: On the Positive and Negative Ethics of Humour""""7.2 Ethnic Humour""; ""7.3 Christie Davis""; ""7.4 Walsall People Are Stupid""; ""7.5 Ted Cohen: Just Joking""; ""8. Humour and Religion ""; ""8.1 Humour and Christianity""; ""8.2 Holy Fools""; ""8.3 Judaism and Humour""; ""8.4 Humour and Buddhism""; ""9. Postmodernism and Humour ""; ""9.1 John A. McClure: The Comically Cosmic""; ""9.2 Humour as Philosophy""; ""9.3 Susan Purdie: Joking and the Unstable Self""; ""9.4 The Laugh of the Medusa""; ""10. Laughter and the Limits of Understanding ""

""Humour and the Human Predicament""""11. Bibliography ""; ""A Note on the Author ""; "" Humanities Insights ""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1-84760-210-X

OCLC:

846986023