Kant’s Humorous Writings

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and is widely recognised one of the most important thinkers in the history of philosophy. Robert Clewis is author of The Kantian Sublime and the Revelation of Freedom (2009), a translator in Kant's Lectures on Anthropology (2012), and editor of Reading Kant's Lectures (2015). He is also the editor of The Sublime Reader (Bloomsbury, 2018). He teaches philosophy and is Director of the Honors Program at Gwynedd Mercy University, USA and is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. Noel Carroll is distinguished Professor of Philosophy, CUNY graduate Center, USA. He is author of more than a hundred articles and books on philosophies of film, art and humour.

Foreword by Noël Carroll

Part One. Kant’s Theory of Humor
Chapter 1: The Secret Soul of Kant’s Joke
Chapter 2: Three Questions about Laughter at Humor
Chapter 3: Kant and the Ethics of Humor

Part Two. Jokes
Incongruity Jokes
1. The Merchant’s Wig
2. Happy Funeral Mourners
3. Swift Wit
4. Dying of Good Health
5. £200
6. Of Juice and Justice
7. King Louis’ Gate
8. Thinking with One’s Body
9. The Happy Cuckold
10. Full of Bull
11. With Friends Like These

Ethnic and Sexist Jokes and Quips
12. Foam in a Bottle
13. German Fools
14. The Bearded Woman
15. Samuel Johnson’s Wife

Jokes with a Point
16. Abelard’s Flying Ox
17. Which Way the Wind Blows
18. Philosophy Detox
19. The Voltaire Bros
20. The Life You Save May Be Your Own

Part Three. Sayings with a Message
21. Ragout, with Wit on the Side
22. Hooped Skirts and Pruned Trees
23. Heidegger as a Woman
24. There Are No Ugly Noses
25. A Whale Barrel
26. To Each his Own
27. Pyrrho’s Pig: That’s What I’m Talking about
28. Hobson’s Choice
29. Sex and Death
30. An Honest Man Is Hard to Find

Appendix: Chapter Summaries

Bibliography
Index