Maybe we should look around and see if we can’t find a back door. (part 3)
nickalbanesi.substack.com
We know that some things are best known by looking to their opposite, and in the same way that studying heat helps us to better understand the cold, so too might we better understand humor by looking instead to what it is not. One can say without too much controversy that there is something about humor that stands opposite to seriousness. Things said in jest are not taken to be literal pieces of information meant to be factored into any decision making process. They are not expected to carry any impact. Serious information, on the other hand, carries with it a sense of urgency. It is considered worthy of one’s full attention and is expected to impose significant consequences. Maybe if we look at these serious, consequential matters of life, we might be able to trace ourselves back to a better understanding of the frivolous. Bertrand Russell once said that “the point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it,” so by his reasoning we have a solid beginning to our adventure.
Maybe we should look around and see if we can’t find a back door. (part 3)
Maybe we should look around and see if we…
Maybe we should look around and see if we can’t find a back door. (part 3)
We know that some things are best known by looking to their opposite, and in the same way that studying heat helps us to better understand the cold, so too might we better understand humor by looking instead to what it is not. One can say without too much controversy that there is something about humor that stands opposite to seriousness. Things said in jest are not taken to be literal pieces of information meant to be factored into any decision making process. They are not expected to carry any impact. Serious information, on the other hand, carries with it a sense of urgency. It is considered worthy of one’s full attention and is expected to impose significant consequences. Maybe if we look at these serious, consequential matters of life, we might be able to trace ourselves back to a better understanding of the frivolous. Bertrand Russell once said that “the point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it,” so by his reasoning we have a solid beginning to our adventure.