has anyone used purely humour as a means to induce philosophical revelation rather?

Question

than just the usual ineffective intellectual understanding.
all jokes are a sort of mini realisation/enlightenment, and i just thought that couching a philoshic idea as a joke [ that is joyfully unravelled] would be more likely to induce instantaneous realization in a reader.
i know the east have their zen koans which may lead to joyful laughing realisations but i am thinking of western/modern examples of this.

Answer 1

Who knows!

Answer 2

G.C. Lichtenberg is perhaps the wittiest sort-of philosopher I can think of, although he had nothing like a coherent system.

Will Rogers was neither funny nor a philosopher, but a 'wicked folksy idiot' (to quote David Thomson talking about someone else).

Arthur Schopenhauer used ironic humour very effectively. Nietzsche was even funnier. But IMO, the biggest intellectual clown in Western philosophy, the only one to use humour as a deliberate and consistent large-scale strategy, was Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855).

Answer 3

I am not sure that philosophical revelation can be induced purely through humour.
I think you are confusing it with the concept of something humorous illustrating something philosophical, which it can. Certainly a sense of humour is a vital part of our understanding of life, or our suffering of life. For an illustration, the Jewish sense of humour (which is actually being able to laugh at oneself) got them through the Holocaust.
Similarly Samuel Beckett, whom one could count as a philosopher, wrote plays with a bitterly dark humour, almost despairingly so.
Being able to laugh at oneself, i.e. take life a little lightly sometimes and see its humorous side, is a tool toward tolerating life. But I don't think humour alone stands as any kind of philosophy, beyond never taking anything, not even life, 100% seriously.
This is not a revelation, it is an attitude.

Answer 4

TO make a point or to gain acceptance of a standpoint through humour is not a new concept, applied to philophical revelation as you suggest would be difficult at best, not because of the humour but because there is nothing that has not been heard before,albeit not by you, rewrapping an insight with the cover of humour is not new,therfore cannot be a revelation in the truest sense of the word.
LF

Answer 5

Many comedians, as well as the well known cynical writer, Oscar Wilde, his was more irony but humorous. O'Henry another writer,"O'Henry's Full House" Great comedy for philosophy. Laughed forever with that book. Some great Comics and actors, WC. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Bros, Bob Hope, Red Skeleton, Jackie Gleason, Bill Cosby, (has a psychology degree),
Richard Pryor, Conan, Jay Leno, Benny Hill, Dave Allen, and another one is www.howardmoore.com as realist.

Answer 6

I believe humor, when used by inner emotions or by inner thoughts, can exploit ones philosophical thinking. After all, philosophy is pure emotional thoughts put into an intellectual manner. It's how one applies the emotional humor that will make it a philosophical stand point.

How many philosophers have used humor via emotional thoughts to turn it into pure logic? I would say majority of them have used such technique and/or style for their philosophy, even in the western/modern teachings.

Yes it can be pure speculation on my view and somewhat debatable, but it's an applied understanding when it comes to philosophy. And that's my final answer....lol.

Answer 7

Absolutely. I am thinking about humorous novels fantasy based novels or tales such as Candide and now Despereaux who make us challenge views about conformity and birthright, or comedians like Golberg or Williams who can draw us to take care of the poor or change prejudice.

Many funny people have depth, but bring people to deeper thought through humor. I think it's effective because humor relaxes us. It makes us see the problems with society in a comical way and sometimes simplified...so we are not shrouded in despair...in a way that is empowering because we can feel like we can have a little control.

Answer 8

I have found humor very useful when I need to remove false beliefs from someone because it renders thought softer and more adaptable to a new light and is non-threatening.

Answer 9

Will Rogers is a great example