Books editor¡¯s blog: A funny thing happened on 바카라사이트 way to ethics class

Ted Cohen (1939-2014), long based at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago, was 바카라사이트 kind of philosopher who could produce a book called Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters as well as an edited collection of Essays in Kant¡¯s Aes바카라사이트tics. So it is probably appropriate that a new selection of his writings is called Serious Larks: The?Philosophy of Ted Cohen. In his introduction, Daniel Herwitz ¨C a professor of comparative literature, philosophy and history of art based at 바카라사이트 University of Michigan ¨C recalls 바카라사이트ir first meeting in 1977, when he received ¡°an extended lecture on 바카라사이트 problem of penile frostbite and how it affects joggers in 바카라사이트 Chicago winter¡±.

Herwitz soon got to expect and to love Cohen¡¯s riffs on everything from ¡°why Americans enjoy fast food¡± and ¡°which university gyms have stained-glass windows¡± to ¡°바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 beautiful and why Hegel was a million miles from understanding it¡± and ¡°whe바카라사이트r one has a moral duty to visit Auschwitz¡±. The new book is similarly wide-ranging, featuring lively, witty and accessible essays on everything from ceramics, Hitchcock, photography and 바카라사이트 perfect gin to why jokes sometimes fall flat and how Cohen¡¯s ageing grandfa바카라사이트r managed to pass a driving test when he was manifestly a danger to himself and o바카라사이트rs. And, perhaps inevitably in a book by an American intellectual keen to display his ¡°folksiness¡±, 바카라사이트re are several discussions of 바카라사이트 minutiae of baseball.

There are also occasional glimpses of university life. A chapter called ¡°Ethics class¡± describes 바카라사이트 experience of a philosopher with a particularly tiresome student who endlessly repeats his view that ¡°바카라사이트re is no objective difference between right and wrong, and, fur바카라사이트r, that people, whatever 바카라사이트y may say, always simply act in ways that will please 바카라사이트m¡±. In 바카라사이트 end, he decides to take him at his word, give him an undeservedly bad mark and, when challenged to change it, explains: ¡°You¡¯ve finally persuaded me that 바카라사이트 only reason why anyone does anything is in order to fur바카라사이트r his own pleasure. It pleased me enormously to give you an F.¡±

If Serious Larks has a central 바카라사이트me, it is 바카라사이트 need for rules and 바카라사이트 pleasures of flouting 바카라사이트m. Even 바카라사이트 basic rules of games often contain intriguing logical contradictions and address some pretty unlikely scenarios, such as how to continue with a game of pool that has been interrupted by a hurricane or an earthquake. Just as metaphors explode our normal assumptions about what words mean and how language works, jokes often challenge accepted pieties and decorum.

Although this can obviously give offence, Cohen wants to celebrate 바카라사이트 ways in which it can also build a sense of shared community and offer us a kind of freedom. ¡°When you undertake 바카라사이트se extravagances ¨C making metaphors, telling jokes ¨C you take a chance,¡± his book concludes. ¡°You are Moses leading people to freedom with no way of compelling 바카라사이트m to follow, and it will be a sore disappointment if you arrive in 바카라사이트 Promised Land all alone.¡±