ABSTRACT

Humor can be dissected, as a frog, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind. The fundamental flaw that plagues the contemporary discussion in the philosophy of humor is the claim that humor is essentially connected to laughter, mirth, or amusement. The reason for this presupposition that humor is essentially and necessarily connected to laughter, mirth, or amusement is that philosophical analyses of humor are written by people who greatly enjoy both laughing at jokes and getting laughs by telling jokes. Jokes are pleasure nuggets delivered unto humanity by a loving comedic God. The element that unites all forms and instances of humor is cleverness. Humor is a conspicuous display of playful cleverness. However, when people are dealing with an explicitly aesthetic situation and approach it in a specifically playful manner, the display of cleverness is an attempt at humor.