Startseite It’s Okay to Laugh at Fat Bastard: Ridicule, Satire, and Immoralism
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

It’s Okay to Laugh at Fat Bastard: Ridicule, Satire, and Immoralism

  • Lukas J. Myers

    University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA;

    EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 18. September 2023
Veröffentlichen auch Sie bei De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

Comic immoralism is the view that sometimes funny things are funny due to their having immoral properties of some sort. Immoralism has many proponents and detractors. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, I clarify the scope and content of comic immoralism as a general thesis in the philosophy of humor. I will argue that the debate about immoralism has unduly excluded certain categories of humor from inclusion, and that the language which immoralists sometimes use can be misleading. Second, I argue for my own version of immoralism, which I call ridicule immoralism. Ridicule immoralism holds that sometimes things are funny due to their being ridiculous, and that things are often ridiculous due to being morally flawed. It follows from this that a version of comic immoralism is true.

About the author

Lukas J. Myers

University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA;

References

An, Dong, and Kaiyuan Chen. 2021. “Jokes Can Fail to Be Funny Because They Are Immoral: The Incompatibility of Emotions.” Philosophical Psychology 34(3): 374 – 96.10.1080/09515089.2021.1874331Suche in Google Scholar

Aristotle. Poetics. 2006. Translated by Joe Sachs. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing./R. Pullins Co.Suche in Google Scholar

Carroll, Noël. 1996. “Moderate Moralism.” British Journal of Aesthetics 36(3): 223 – 38.10.1093/bjaesthetics/36.3.223Suche in Google Scholar

Carroll, Noël. 2014. “Ethics and Comic Amusement.” The British Journal of Aesthetics 54(2): 241 – 53.10.1093/aesthj/ayu015Suche in Google Scholar

Carroll, Noël. 2000. “Art and Ethical Criticism: An Overview of Recent Directions of Research.” Ethics 110(2): 350 – 87.10.1086/233273Suche in Google Scholar

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. 2001. Cicero: The Ideal Orator. Translated by Shackleton Bailey D R. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.10.1093/actrade/9780195091984.book.1Suche in Google Scholar

Declerq, Dieter. 2018. “A Definition of Satire (and Why a Definition Matters).” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76(3): 319 – 30.10.1111/jaac.12563Suche in Google Scholar

Eaton, Anne. W. 2003. “Where Ethics and Aesthetics Meet: Titian’s Rape of Europa.” Hypatia 18(4): 159 – 8810.1111/j.1527-2001.2003.tb01417.xSuche in Google Scholar

Eaton, Anne W. 2012. “Robust Immoralism.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 70(3): 281 – 92.10.1111/j.1540-6245.2012.01520.xSuche in Google Scholar

“Exclusive: Palin on Foreign Policy.” CBS News. CBS Interactive, September 27, 2008. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/exclusive-palin-on-foreign-policy/.Suche in Google Scholar

Freud, Sigmund. 1981. Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. Translated by James Strachey. London: The Hogarth Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Gaut, Berys. 1998a. “The Ethical Criticism of Art.” In Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays at the Intersection, edited by Jerrold Levinson, 182 – 203. Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and the Arts. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511663888.007Suche in Google Scholar

Gaut, Berys. 1998b. “Just Joking: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Humor.” Philosophy and Literature 22(1): 51 – 68.10.1353/phl.1998.0014Suche in Google Scholar

Hobbes, Thomas. 1994. Leviathan. Edited by Edwin Curley. Indianapolis, IN. Hackett Publishing.Suche in Google Scholar

Hume, David. 1987.”Of the Standards of Taste.”In Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary, edited by Eugene F. Miller, 226 – 49. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.Suche in Google Scholar

Jacobson, Daniel. 1997. “In Praise of Immoral Art.” Philosophical Topics 25(1): 155 – 99.10.5840/philtopics199725123Suche in Google Scholar

Jacobson, Daniel. 2005. “Ethical Criticism and the Vice of Moderation.” In Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, edited by Mathew Kieran, 342 – 57. New York: Wiley Blackwell.Suche in Google Scholar

Kivy, Peter. 2003. “Jokes Are a Laughing Matter.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 61(1): 5 – 15.10.1111/1540-6245.00087Suche in Google Scholar

Knott, Blanche. 1982. Truly Tasteless Jokes. Ballantine, NY: Ballantine Books.Suche in Google Scholar

McKee, Rick/CagleCartoons.com. “Democrats Can't Stop Vaping Socialism.” Bristol Herald Courier – Tricities, September 15, 2019.https://heraldcourier.com/opinion/democratscant-stopvaping-socialism/image_ee6451de-d76e-11e9-882b-0f27941be29b.html.Suche in Google Scholar

Morreall, John. 1987. The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Nannicelli, Ted. 2014. “Moderate Comic Immoralism and the Genetic Approach to the Ethical Criticism of Art.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 72(2): 169 – 79.10.1111/jaac.12072Suche in Google Scholar

Nath, Rekha. 2019. “The Injustice of Fat Stigma.” Bioethics 33(5): 577 – 90.10.1111/bioe.12560Suche in Google Scholar

NPR. “Fat Phobia and Its Racist Past and Present.” NPR. NPR, July 21, 2020. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/893006538Suche in Google Scholar

Plato. 2016. The Republic of Plato. Edited by Adam Kirsch. Translated by Allan Bloom. New York: Basic Books.Suche in Google Scholar

Plato. 2019. Philebus. Edited and translated by James L. Wood. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.Suche in Google Scholar

“Sarah Palin's Hand Crib Notes Mocked by White House Aide.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, February 10, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/10/sarah-palinhand-crib-notes-white-house.Suche in Google Scholar

Shaw, Joshua. 2010. “Philosophy of Humor.” Philosophy Compass. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2009.00281.x10.1111/j.1747-9991.2009.00281.xSuche in Google Scholar

Smuts, Aaron. 2009. “Do Moral Flaws Enhance Amusement?” American Philosophical Quarterly 46(2): 151 – 62.Suche in Google Scholar

Smuts, Aaron. 2010. “The Ethics of Humor: Can your sense of Humor be Wrong?” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 13(3): 333 – 47.10.1007/s10677-009-9203-5Suche in Google Scholar

Smuts, Aaron. 2013. “The Salacious and the Satirical: In Defense of Symmetric Comic Moralism.” The Journal of Aesthetic Education 47(4): 45 – 63.10.5406/jaesteduc.47.4.0045Suche in Google Scholar

Sole-Smith, Virginia. “In Obesity Research, Fatphobia Is Always the X Factor.” Scientific American. Scientific American, March 6, 2021. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-obesity-research-fatphobia-is-always-thex-factor/.Scientific American, 6 Mar. 2021.10.1038/scientificamerican062021-5rz5CxRZUnfAAect1UAqKASuche in Google Scholar

Tapley, Robin. 2012. “Humour, Beliefs, and Prejudice.” Southwest Philosophy Review 28(1): 85 – 92.10.5840/swphilreview20122819Suche in Google Scholar

Treisman, Rachel. “Big Bird Got 'Vaccinated' against COVID-19, Drawing Outrage from Republicans.” NPR Illinois, November 8, 2021. https://www.nprillinois.org/2021-1108/big-bird-got-vaccinated-against-covid-19-drawing-outrage-from-republicans.Suche in Google Scholar

“USA Today Cartoonist Mike Thompson's 2021 in Review.” USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, December 27, 2021. https://www.usatoday.com/picturegallery/opinion/2021/12/27/2021-funny-cartoon-review-today-cartoonist-mike-thompsons-2021-review/9024561002/.Suche in Google Scholar

Woodcock, Scott. 2015. “Comic Immoralism and Relatively Funny Jokes.” Journal of Applied Philosophy 32(2): 203 – 16.10.1111/japp.12084Suche in Google Scholar

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

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  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.    
Heruntergeladen am 30.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/phhumyb-2023-0006/html?lang=de
Button zum nach oben scrollen