Peter Rickman on the unsettling similarities between jokes and philosophy. Tell the average person – perhaps the proverbial man on the Clapham omnibus – that according to Plato, that bus is not real, is merely an appearance or an imitation or an intangible reality, the form or idea of a bus, the bus which “God …
An introduction by Tim Madigan. “It is worth noting that Wittgenstein once said that a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist entirely of jokes (without being facetious).”Norman Malcolm, Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir The above passage is rather ambiguous – does it mean that Wittgenstein said such a thing in a …
How many philosophers does it take to change a light bulb?It depends on how you define ‘change’. How many existentialists does it take to change a light bulb?Two – one to bemoan the darkness until the other redefines something else as light. How many analytic philosophers does it take to change a light bulb?None – …
Organisers: Marija Selak University of Zagreb Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode Warsaw University Ralph Stefan Weir University of Lincoln Topic areas Talks at this conference Add a talk Details The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford, and the Faculty of Philosophy, Universities of Warsaw, in collaboration the Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb University invite applications for the New …
Sponsor(s): Organisers: Marija Selak University of Zagreb Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode Warsaw University Ralph Stefan Weir University of Lincoln Topic areas The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford, and the Faculty of Philosophy, Universities of Warsaw, in collaboration the Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb University invite applications for the New Generation Scholars Exchange programme. The Exchange programme …
The Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love invites papers and panel proposals on any topic related to the philosophy of sex and love for the Fall and Spring terms of its new virtual seminar. Each session will last approximately 1hr 30 minutes and will consist of: – One talk lasting approximately 40-50 minutes, followed by a …
SPSL (The Society for the Philosophy of Sex & Love) online seminar Read More »
Jorge J.E. Gracia on the Significance of the Insignificant. One of the most paradoxical features of the Seinfeld phenomenon is the extraordinary popularity of the TV series, particularly with younger Americans, in the face of the insignificance of the topics around which the show revolves. How can a show that deals with what appear to …
John Marmysz looks on the funny side of absolute nothingness. God is dead. Nothing matters. All is meaningless. Nothing is true. These are the sorts of laments often associated with nihilism, a philosophical perspective premised on the belief that the world is incurably imperfect, flawed, defective. According to the nihilist, the way that the world …
Isadora Mosch considers why we laugh at things that aren’t funny. “Why can’t Helen Keller drive?Because she’s a woman.” I admit that laughing out loud when I heard this joke about the famous blind and deaf writer was not my finest moment – as a woman or as a decent human being. As soon as …
Mordechai Gordon takes ideas about not taking ourselves too seriously seriously. To date, philosophers have concentrated much more on trying to account for what makes us laugh at others than on why we laugh at ourselves. Indeed, attempts to explain the phenomenon of laughing at others have been around for a long time, at least …