Table of Contents

Foreword by Noël Carroll Part One. Kant’s Theory of Humor Chapter 1: The Secret Soul of Kant’s Joke Chapter 2: Three Questions about Laughter at Humor Chapter 3: Kant and the Ethics of Humor Part Two. Jokes Incongruity Jokes 1. The Merchant’s Wig 2. Happy Funeral Mourners 3. Swift Wit 4. Dying of Good Health 5. £200 6. Of Juice and Justice 7. King Louis’ Gate 8. Thinking with One’s Body 9. The Happy Cuckold 10. Full of Bull 11. With Friends Like These Ethnic and Sexist Jokes and Quips 12. Foam in a Bottle 13. German Fools 14. The Bearded Woman 15. Samuel Johnson’s Wife Jokes with a Point 16. Abelard’s Flying Ox 17. Which Way the Wind Blows 18. Philosophy Detox 19. The Voltaire Bros 20. The Life You Save May Be Your Own Part Three. Sayings with a Message 21. Ragout, with Wit on the Side 22. Hooped Skirts and Pruned Trees 23. Heidegger as a Woman 24. There Are No Ugly Noses 25. A Whale Barrel 26. To Each his Own 27. Pyrrho’s Pig: That’s What I’m Talking about 28. Hobson’s Choice 29. Sex and Death 30. An Honest Man Is Hard to Find Appendix: Chapter Summaries Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

Providing a totally different perspective of one of the most influential philosophers of all time, this volume contains new translations of Kant’s bon mots, quips, and anecdotes, supplemented by accessible historical commentary.

About the Author

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and is widely recognised one of the most important thinkers in the history of philosophy. Robert Clewis is author of The Kantian Sublime and the Revelation of Freedom (2009), a translator in Kant's Lectures on Anthropology (2012), and editor of Reading Kant's Lectures (2015). He is also the editor of The Sublime Reader (Bloomsbury, 2018). He teaches philosophy and is Director of the Honors Program at Gwynedd Mercy University, USA and is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. Noel Carroll is distinguished Professor of Philosophy, CUNY graduate Center, USA. He is author of more than a hundred articles and books on philosophies of film, art and humour.

Reviews

For many readers, 'Kant' and 'humor' are two words that do not belong together in the same sentence. But in his detailed and engaging study, Robert Clewis gives the lie to this popular prejudice. The sage of Königsberg was both a fairly serious theorist of humor as well as a teacher who often sought to enliven his lectures with a good joke or two.
*Robert B. Louden, Distinguished Professor and Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern Maine, USA*

Kant scholarship meets humor research—what a delightful surprise! Drawing on Kant’s writings and notes taken by his students, Clewis evaluates thirty of Kant’s jokes, stories, and observations to discuss his philosophy of humor. Along the way, he gets into what’s wrong with bad puns and why the English are better at comedy than the French. His treatment of Kant’s ethics of humor and his understanding of it as an aesthetic experience are especially insightful. I’ve been researching humor for forty years and found new ideas in every chapter.
*John Morreall, author of "Taking Laughter Seriously" and "Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor"*