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Laughter as Natural Piety: John Dewey, Humor, and the Religious

  • Jonathan Weidenbaum

    Berkeley College, New York, USA;

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Published/Copyright: September 18, 2023
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The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook
From the journal The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook Volume 4 Issue 1

Abstract

One topic frequently explored in the philosophy of humor is the relationship of comedy and laughter with other facets of human existence—including theological insight and religious experience. The aim of this essay is to employ the mature thought of John Dewey not only to illuminate the nature of humor, but also to discern the deep source and connection between the spiritually exalting and the funny from a naturalistic perspective. While a number of passages on comedy and humor from Dewey’s later work are addressed, mostly from Art as Experience, they are synthesized with other ideas from this same text along with a few quotes from John Morreall. The focus is then shifted toward the central themes of A Common Faith, Dewey’s proposal for a de-supernaturalized form of the religious life. It is suggested that the humorous and the religious, understood through Dewey’s refined account of experience, disclose a few very important things about our place within the cosmos as a whole—that greatest of contexts in and through which laughter and the spiritual alike acquire their significance. This Deweyan vision is further clarified by way of comparison with Peter Berger’s theological reflections on humor. The controversies over sin and the place of tragedy in Dewey’s religious naturalism are briefly discussed in the conclusion.

Keywords: John Dewey; philosophy of humor; philosophical aesthetics; philosophy of religion; religious naturalism

About the author

Jonathan Weidenbaum

Berkeley College, New York, USA;

References

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Published Online: 2023-09-18
Published in Print: 2023-09-18

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titlepages
  2. Titlepages
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Articles
  5. Vico’s Theory of Humor and Laughter
  6. Laughter as Natural Piety: John Dewey, Humor, and the Religious
  7. Understanding Humor: Four Conceptual Approaches to the Elusive Subject
  8. Reality Is a Joke
  9. What Makes a Joke Bad: Enthymemes and the Pragmatics of Humor
  10. It’s Okay to Laugh at Fat Bastard: Ridicule, Satire, and Immoralism
  11. Oppression, Subversive Humor, and Unstable Politics
  12. What's the Deal with Sophists? Critical Thought and Humor in Ancient Philosophy and Contemporary Comedy
  13. Discussion: Article for Further Debate
  14. Discussion: Article for Further Debate   Edited by John Marmysz
  15. What’s So Funny About Golf?
  16. Artificial Intelligence, Phenomenology, and The Molyneux Problem
  17. A Kernel of Truth: Outlining an Epistemology of Jokes
  18. Philosophical Satire and Criticism
  19. Philosophical Satire and Criticism Edited by Steven Gimbel
  20. How to Read Wittgenstein as x: An Exercise in Selective Interpretation
  21. Humor in Philosophy Education
  22. Humor in Philosophy Education Edited by Christine A. James
  23. Quantifying Laughter in International Research
  24. Symposium
  25. Symposium     Edited by Steven Gimbel   Robert R. Clewis, Foreword by Noël Carroll, Kant’s Humorous Writings: An Illustrated Guide. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. Pp. xxiv + 256   Critics
  26. Prosecuting the Case against Clewis
  27. All in Good Taste
  28. Is Kant Seriously Funny?
  29. Clewis on Kant’s Humor
  30. Author’s Response
  31. Author's Response
  32. Humor and the Arts: Taking Kant Seriously
  33. Book Reviews
  34. Book Reviews Edited by Lydia Amir With Pierre Destrée (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy) and John Marmysz (Modern and Contemporary Philosophy)
  35.    
  36. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  37. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  38.    
https://doi.org/10.1515/phhumyb-2023-0002
Keywords for this article
John Dewey; philosophy of humor; philosophical aesthetics; philosophy of religion; religious naturalism

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titlepages
  2. Titlepages
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Articles
  5. Vico’s Theory of Humor and Laughter
  6. Laughter as Natural Piety: John Dewey, Humor, and the Religious
  7. Understanding Humor: Four Conceptual Approaches to the Elusive Subject
  8. Reality Is a Joke
  9. What Makes a Joke Bad: Enthymemes and the Pragmatics of Humor
  10. It’s Okay to Laugh at Fat Bastard: Ridicule, Satire, and Immoralism
  11. Oppression, Subversive Humor, and Unstable Politics
  12. What's the Deal with Sophists? Critical Thought and Humor in Ancient Philosophy and Contemporary Comedy
  13. Discussion: Article for Further Debate
  14. Discussion: Article for Further Debate   Edited by John Marmysz
  15. What’s So Funny About Golf?
  16. Artificial Intelligence, Phenomenology, and The Molyneux Problem
  17. A Kernel of Truth: Outlining an Epistemology of Jokes
  18. Philosophical Satire and Criticism
  19. Philosophical Satire and Criticism Edited by Steven Gimbel
  20. How to Read Wittgenstein as x: An Exercise in Selective Interpretation
  21. Humor in Philosophy Education
  22. Humor in Philosophy Education Edited by Christine A. James
  23. Quantifying Laughter in International Research
  24. Symposium
  25. Symposium     Edited by Steven Gimbel   Robert R. Clewis, Foreword by Noël Carroll, Kant’s Humorous Writings: An Illustrated Guide. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. Pp. xxiv + 256   Critics
  26. Prosecuting the Case against Clewis
  27. All in Good Taste
  28. Is Kant Seriously Funny?
  29. Clewis on Kant’s Humor
  30. Author’s Response
  31. Author's Response
  32. Humor and the Arts: Taking Kant Seriously
  33. Book Reviews
  34. Book Reviews Edited by Lydia Amir With Pierre Destrée (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy) and John Marmysz (Modern and Contemporary Philosophy)
  35.    
  36. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  37. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  38.    
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