Take My Course, Please! The Philosophy of Humor

Overview

Explore the intriguing philosophy of humor, a legitimate subfield that reveals the nature of human experience. This course delves into historical perspectives and contemporary theories, offering insights into what makes us laugh and why humor matters.

Course Outline

• The Universality of Humor (35 min)
  • Examine the nature of humor across cultures and stages of life.

• The Objectivity of Humor (31 min)
  • Debate humor’s subjectivity vs. objectivity and its philosophical implications.

• The Science of Laughter (29 min)
  • Investigate the brain’s role in laughter and its social functions.

• Truth and Humor (30 min)
  • Analyze jokes’ relationship with truth and different philosophical accounts.

• Comedy and Tragedy (26 min)
  • Explore Aristotle’s views on comedy as a response to tragedy.

• Irony and Truth (27 min)
  • Understand the significant role of irony in humor.

• Satires, Parodies, and Spoofs (29 min)
  • Delve into serious humor, including satirical works and their influences.

• Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One: Jokes (27 min)
  • Discover the logical mechanisms that underlie verbal humor.

• Theories of Humor (28 min)
  • Introduction to analytic philosophy and its application to humor theories.

• Superiority Theory (28 min)
  • Investigate humor as a form of superiority over others.

• Inferiority Theory (28 min)
  • Discuss the inverse of superiority theory and its implications.

• Play Theory (30 min)
  • Learn about the unique relationship between joke-teller and audience.

• Relief Theory (30 min)
  • Explore how humor affects the listener’s mind.

• Incongruity Theory (27 min)
  • Understand how incongruity between concepts generates humor.

• Cleverness Theory (27 min)
  • Analyze humor as a playful act of cleverness without the need for laughter.

• Humor Theory Revisited (28 min)
  • A holistic view of various laughter theories through examples.

17. Humor Ethics: Boundaries and Limitations (31 min)
    • Explore moral responsibilities and rules surrounding humor.

• Who Can Tell Ethnic Jokes? (30 min)
  • Debate the permissibility of ethnic jokes from a philosophical standpoint.

• Comic Moralism (30 min)
  • Investigate the morality of jokes based on their funniness.

• Situational Ethics and Humor (31 min)
  • Examine how different contexts influence the morality of joke-telling.

• The Necessity of Humor (32 min)
  • Explore whether humor is essential to human life.

• Comedian Ethics (29 min)
  • Discuss whether comedians should adhere to higher moral standards.

• Socially Progressive Comedy (27 min)
  • Analyze humor as a tool for social change and activism.

• Ridiculousness and the Human Condition (33 min)
  • Reflect on humor’s role in living a fulfilling life.