Philosophers study humor for different reasons. Most have a certain axe to grind, a point to be made on a matter entirely self-conscious, a matter upon which they must conquer.
Of course there are those philosophers who study humor for the sole purpose of redemption, a matter of personal guilt over which they must atone, and atonement only comes through self-understanding, the ability to differentiate oneself from the other. This approach when executed properly leads to wisdom, to higher understandings of motivation, execution, and assessment.
Finally ~ for today, there are those philosophers who study humor to rise above it all. When the ironies of life have sufficiently fueled one's BUTTON,
... the next space greets us with relief.
Hence the relief theory of humor, an aside, a half-laugh-half-sigh felt so profoundly one almost forever lives in the reverberation of its heartbeat. For these philosophers, irony becomes a blessing ~ a welcomed and familiar friend ... a reminder of one's self prior to the relation to other.
This is the type of humor one must possess to appreciate the comic below.
PROPOSITION:
~ They are all considered "cool" by someone.
~ The only option that is not considered "cool" is the option
the one doing the considering does not consider "cool"
at the moment of consideration.
~ We all try to answer the question.
~Answers vary; hence, assumed differentiation;
hence, the unifying principle,
~ therefore,
Everyone has an opinion.
When it comes right down to it, philosophers are executive operators, individuals in possession of a hierarchy faculty that answer only to its ideal: wisdom.
Wisdom is the mother of nature, that which we seek and find in relation to our relation to other. This type of self-understanding results in a sensitivity to life's ironies. A deeper understanding of the complexity of thoughts and feelings associated with one's own well-being allows the thinker of such thoughts temporal passage, a train ride through the problems and arguments, ideas and systems that offer that prototypical arena plenty of fodder for where future proposals and developments will in return quantify their position, counter with their hierarchy, and in the process, invariably somewhere undercut that which preceded.
Yet what follows is not inevitably ironic when contrasted with that which precedes, even when it is opposed on a tangible level - and even if that opposition is recognized on an intentionally and self-consciously fabricated level ~ however enticing, the interpreters of such propositions are cautious in assessing relationships between concepts and even more so in giving any single one of them a label.
But labels are important. Not only to others, but to our understanding of self. The desire to know which labels fit and which are merely temporarily carried forward until time permits deeper analysis is the impetus from which ability springs forth. Ironies fuel ability with a certain type of contemporaneousness thought, certain philosophical ideas, answers to which are found in the unification of parallel concepts, in bringing divergent constructs into a cogent whole.
History has provided us with countless examples to illustrate the proposal that irony is a valuable heuristic tool.
Remarks on irony and one's own sense of irony illustrate the presence of a contemplative mind at work. Conceding that such controversial matters deserve further thought and discussion, my own examples are provided for their usefulness to contrasts and comparisons made by others. Any internal motivations for such sharings are notably self-serving, useful when constructing analysis between two seemingly divergent concepts, divergent based on which side of the exchange one find's oneself:
- Motivated by the desires
- Motivated by altruistic desire for unity
The ironic thing is ...
At the moment of penning this post .... I have run out of time to discuss these matters as the events which stirred this sharing's impetus are taking precedence as the clock ticks onward.
So, we'll have to re-consider these matters another day. Of course you are welcomed, nay encouraged to take this sharing forward, analyze the heck out of it so that implied as well as interpreted concepts presented herein can be redirected toward self, and then further analyzed for self-understanding as well as self-understanding in relation to other.
Precisely mirroring the operational process of concept to verb.
It has been this philosopher's experience that individuals with a myriad of perspectives loosely held are those with the greatest capacity for appreciating irony ... the funny thing is that humor arises from irony, from life's mirrored differences.
Many mistake the mirror for difference. Humor, like us, wasn't present during the moment in which *nothing met with something. That moment when everything blew up ... what spewed forth was life as we know it ...
It is no wonder that "laugh at life" jokes are rated among the funniest jokes of all time. It is the one thing upon which divergent cultures relate: life's triumphs and tragedies, gains and losses, successes and failures, likes and dislikes, loves and disdains. All held in relation to personal taste.
At first there was *nothing
and then it blew up !!!
(*Not entirely that simple,
but it makes a good starting point for further discussion,
as well as an irony over which to delight)
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