Kant’s Humorous Writings

An Illustrated Guide

Robert R. Clewis (Author) , Noël Carroll (Foreword)

Online resources available

Kant’s Humorous Writings

An Illustrated Guide

Robert R. Clewis (Author) , Noël Carroll (Foreword)

Online resources available

Ebook (PDF) ₹1863.00 Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ₹1863.00

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Description

While Kant is commonly regarded as one of the most austere philosophers of all time, this book provides quite a different perspective of the founder of transcendental philosophy. Kant is often thought of as being boring, methodical, and humorless. Yet the thirty jokes and anecdotes collected and illustrated here for the first time reveal a man and a thinker who was deeply interested in how humor and laughter shape how we think, feel, and communicate with fellow human beings.

In addition to a foreword on Kant's theory of humor by Noël Carroll as well as Clewis's informative chapters, Kant's Humorous Writings contains new translations of Kant's jokes, quips, and anecdotes. Each of the thirty excerpts is illustrated and supplemented by historical commentaries which explain their significance.

Foreword by Noël Carroll

Part One. Kant's Theory of Humor
Chapter 1: The Secret Soul of Kant's Joke
Chapter 2: Three Questions about Laughter at Humor
Chapter 3: Kant and the Ethics of Humor

Part Two. Jokes
Incongruity Jokes
1. The Merchant's Wig
2. Happy Funeral Mourners
3. Swift Wit
4. Dying of Good Health
5. £200
6. Of Juice and Justice
7. King Louis' Gate
8. Thinking with One's Body
9. The Happy Cuckold
10. Full of Bull
11. With Friends Like These

Ethnic and Sexist Jokes and Quips
12. Foam in a Bottle
13. German Fools
14. The Bearded Woman
15. Samuel Johnson's Wife

Jokes with a Point
16. Abelard's Flying Ox
17. Which Way the Wind Blows
18. Philosophy Detox
19. The Voltaire Bros
20. The Life You Save May Be Your Own

Part Three. Sayings with a Message
21. Ragout, with Wit on the Side
22. Hooped Skirts and Pruned Trees
23. Heidegger as a Woman
24. There Are No Ugly Noses
25. A Whale Barrel
26. To Each his Own
27. Pyrrho's Pig: That's What I'm Talking about
28. Hobson's Choice
29. Sex and Death
30. An Honest Man Is Hard to Find

Appendix: Chapter Summaries

Bibliography
Index

Product details

Published	12 Nov 2020
Format	Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition	1st
Extent	280
ISBN	9781350112803
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Robert R. Clewis

Robert R. Clewis teaches philosophy and is Associa…

Foreword

Noël Carroll

For many readers, 'Kant' and 'humor' are two words that do not belong together in the same sentence. But in his detailed and engaging study, Robert Clewis gives the lie to this popular prejudice. The sage of Königsberg was both a fairly serious theorist of humor as well as a teacher who often sought to enliven his lectures with a good joke or two.

Robert B. Louden, Distinguished Professor and Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern Maine, USA
Kant scholarship meets humor research-what a delightful surprise! Drawing on Kant's writings and notes taken by his students, Clewis evaluates thirty of Kant's jokes, stories, and observations to discuss his philosophy of humor. Along the way, he gets into what's wrong with bad puns and why the English are better at comedy than the French. His treatment of Kant's ethics of humor and his understanding of it as an aesthetic experience are especially insightful. I've been researching humor for forty years and found new ideas in every chapter.

John Morreall, author of "Taking Laughter Seriously" and "Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor"