"Jokes, Life after Death, and God "has two main tasks: to try to
understand exactly what a joke is, and to see whether there are any
connections between jokes, on the one hand, and life after death
and God, on the other hand. But it pursues other tasks as well,
tasks of an ancillary sort.
This book devises a general and comprehensive, but brief, theory
of jokes. The author begins with critiques of other writers' views
on the subject. 1) Ted Cohen thinks that such a theory is
impossible. 2) Ronald Berk, on the other hand, provides just such a
theory. And 3) John Morreall provides a general theory of laughter,
which may include some things which can be used in a general theory
of jokes. 4) Neil Schaeffer, too, provides a general theory of
laughter, which makes a big point out of what he calls the
"ludicrous context"; but he does include a chapter on jokes. 5)
Christopher Wilson offers a general theory of jokes in which he
focuses on form and content. And 6) Thomas Werge, in reflecting on
the comic, suggests a general theory of jokes which identifies
their matter, form, agents, purposes, and beyond these, the
underlying shared relational context, which makes it possible for
jokes to arise. 7) Bill Fuller's message is that there is more
funniness coming out of two or more heads than out of one, just as
Socrates' message was that there is more clarity coming out of two
or more heads than out of one. 8) Umberto Eco feels that monks
should laugh, just as ordinary people do; for laughter not only
refreshes our seeking spirits, it also illuminates the truth we
seek. 9) Simon Critchley, in his reflections on humor, notes that
jokes bring on a kind of everyday anamnesis, that they are
anti-story stories, that they are like prayers, that they are like
philosophy; and that they require a certain underlying context,
which is implicitly recognized by both teller and listener, and
which renders possible the tension needed to make the punch line
work. 10) Martha Wolfenstein, pursuing a psychological analysis of
children's humor, proposes that the underlying motive for telling
jokes remains the same from childhood to adulthood, i.e., to
transform painful and frustrating experiences so as to extract
pleasure from them; and that the agent or productive cause of jokes
is the repressing unconscious, as suggested by Freud.
As John Morreall has argued, neither the Superiority Theory (as in
Plato, Aristotle and Hobbes), nor the Relief Theory (as in Spencer
and Freud), nor the Incongruity Theory (as in Kant, Schopenhauer
and Kierkegaard) appears to work as a general and comprehensive
theory. Moreover, these writers talk more about humor and laughter
than about jokes. To be sure, a joke is a type of humor. Thus, to
say something about humor is to say something, though of a generic
sort, about jokes. Similarly, to say something about the laughter
caused by humor is to say something, though generic, about the
laughter caused by jokes. Most of the authors considered in chapter
one are concerned with jokes, and not only with humor as such.
Section 11 of chapter one puts together, out of the combined
contributions of these authors, what can be considered the
beginnings of, some thoughts toward, a general and comprehensive
theory of jokes. This task the author illustrates in a concrete
way, by looking at individual jokes of different sorts; not,
however, without inviting the reader to enjoy these jokes. The
author looks particularly at Jewish jokes, Christian jokes, and
Islamic jokes (jokes in three major religious traditions), jokes
about philosophy and philosophers (philosophers ought to be able to
laugh at themselves and at what they do), yo mama jokes (out of a
healthy curiosity), Italian jokes and Slovak jokes, all of which
makes for a clearer understanding of exactly what a joke is.
The analysis of general theory is then followed by some views on
the morality of jokes and joke-telling, and an analysis of the
connection between jokes and life after death, on the one hand, and
God, on the other. Throughout the book Bobik offers innumerable
examples to heighten our understanding and entertain us.
General
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