A Joke: On the Plurality of Worlds and Ostrichist

Felipe G. A. Moreira

doi:10.1515/phhumyb-2024-0003

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A Joke: On the Plurality of Worlds and Ostrichist

Felipe G. A. Moreira
São Paulo State University, Brazil;

Published/Copyright: June 11, 2024

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From the journal The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook Volume 5 Issue 1

Abstract

This essay proposes an alternative reading of David Lewis’s On the Plurality of Worlds (OpW) by drawing parallels between this book and a performance by Andy Kaufman, Andy Wrestles the Ladies (AwL). The proposed reading is ultimately grounded by a joke: that it is more credible to believe that similarly to Kaufman in AwL, Lewis impersonated a character in OpW by performing a reductio ad absurdum than to believe that he seriously defended modal realism. After all, to support this thesis is to face countless objections while showing varied lacks of awareness and justifying the attribution to oneself of Ostrichist. The latter abbreviates the predicate, “to act like an ostrich,” attributable to that which lacks varied kinds of awareness in acting in a way comparable to that of a bizarre ostrich that buries its head in the sand for no good reason.

Keywords: On the Plurality of Worlds; Andy Kaufman; philosophy of humor; reductio ad absurdum; modal politics.

About the author

Felipe G. A. Moreira

São Paulo State University, Brazil;

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Published Online: 2024-06-11

Published in Print: 2024-06-11

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/phhumyb-2024-0003

Keywords for this article

On the Plurality of Worlds; Andy Kaufman; philosophy of humor; reductio ad absurdum; modal politics.