Course Details

Humor is a mystery. Over the centuries, philosophers have been unable to come to grips with it fully. Whenever they think that they have a good grasp of humor, an aspect of it, or the entirety, escapes. There have been many theories (such as exercise of superiority, release of energy or tension, consideration/resolution of incongruity, engagement in play) but exceptions always disprove the proposed rule. We will speculate, look at the positive and negative roles of mirth, consider how to benefit from it, and above all celebrate examples. Study group participants should be prepared to laugh. (Fortunately, we laugh 30 times more frequently in groups than alone).