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A distance theory of humour1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2009

Brian Ribeiro

Abstract

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Brian Ribeiro offers a sketch of a new theory of humour, pitched at roughly the same level of detail, and intended to have roughly the same level of inclusiveness, as the other available philosophical ‘theories’ of humour.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Think , Volume 6 , Issue 17-18 , Spring 2008, pp. 139 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2008

Footnotes

1 I would like to express my gratitude to Hannah Rutledge with whom many of the ideas in this paper were tested and refined, and to Ronnie Littlejohn for being easily persuaded to let me teach a course on ‘Seinfeld and Philosophy’ (while I was a visiting lecturer at Belmont University) that I will always remember with unmitigated delight.#

References

Note

2 Hobbes, Thomas, The English Works of Thomas Hobbes, ed. Molesworth, William (Aalen: Scientia Verlag, 1966). See III: 46; IV: 45–47, 454–455.Google Scholar

3 Kant, Immanuel, Critique of Judgement, trans. Meredith, J. C. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952). See §54: 196–203.Google Scholar

4 Freud, Sigmund, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, trans. Strachey, James (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989).Google Scholar

5 This idea comes from Critchley, Simon's On Humour (New York: Routledge, 2002)Google Scholar: Chapter 3. This, along with various other scattered remarks in the book, helped me to begin to see the outlines of the distance theory as a theory of humour capable of explaining a diverse range of phenomena, from crass bodily humour to observational comedy.