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 – …
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 …
Patrícia Fernandes looks at Rorty’s idea for promoting human rights. For his 1993 Oxford Amnesty Lecture, the American philosopher Richard Rorty presented a paper that would become one of his most popular texts: ‘Human Rights, Rationality, and Sentimentality’. In it he argued for the following ideas: 1) We cannot justify human rights; 2) Reason is …
Hamid Andishan tells us how Sartre, a philosopher of freedom, had problems with the politics of the land of liberté, and how this affected his view of human rights. Have you ever heard of someone loving and hating something at the same time? It can lead to madness, or at least, to profound anguish. The …
Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of …
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Read More »