Humor and the Good Life in Modern Philosophy: Shaftesbury, Hamann, Kierkegaard

406 Pages·2014·6.95 MB·English

by  Hamann, Johann Georg, Kierkegaard, Søren, Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Amir, Lydia, Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Hamann, Johann Georg, Kierkegaard, Søren

Humor and tHe Good Life
in modern PHiLosoPHy

Humor and tHe Good Life
in modern PHiLosoPHy
shaftesbury, Hamann, Kierkegaard
Lydia B. Amir
Cover: Jan Steen. The dancing lesson. 1660–1679. oil on panel. 68.5 × 59 cm
(27 × 23.2 in). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Amir, Lydia.
Humor and the good life in modern philosophy : Shaftesbury, Hamann,
Kierkegaard / Lydia Amir.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages ) and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4937-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Life. 2. Wit and humor. 3. Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 1671–
1713. 4. Hamann, Johann Georg, 1730–1788. 5. Kierkegaard, Søren,
1813–1855. I. Title.
BD435.A58 2014
128—dc23 2013003304
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Abbreviations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1
Shaftesbury: Ridicule as the Test of Truth 11
The Good Life 18
The Comic 29
Ridicule 40
Humor and Wit 53
Concluding Remarks: Humor, Good Humor, Ridicule,
and the Shaftesburean Good Life 69
Intermezzo
Hamann: Humor and Irony as Categories of Understanding 89
The Good Life 91
Humor and Irony 94
Chapter 2
Kierkegaard: Humor as Philosophy at its Best 101
The Good Life 109
The Comic 127
Irony 151
Humor 162
Concluding Remarks: The Comic, Humor,
and the Kierkegaardian Good Life 181
vi Contents
Chapter 3
Humor and the Good Life 209
The Comic and the Tragic 220
Humor 242
Ridicule 261
The Good Life 275
Notes 287
Bibliography 333
References 337
Index 373
List of abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in the text, followed by page numbers
indicated by Arabic numerals. Roman capital letters indicate parts, books
or volumes, and Roman lower-case letters indicate chapters.
WorKs by antHony asHLey CooPer
sHaftesbury
CR: Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, etc., ed. John M.
Robertson, in two volumes, 1963
CR3: Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, etc., 6th edition,
corrected, in three volumes, 1737
Inquiry: Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit
Letter: Letter Concerning Enthusiasm
Life: The Life, Unpublished Letters, and Philosophical Regimen of Anthony,
Earl of Shaftesbury
Misc.: Miscellaneous Reflections on the Preceding Treatises, and other Critical
Subjects
Moralists: The Moralists, a Philosophical Rhapsody
P.R.O.: The Shaftesbury Papers in the Public Record Office in at Kew,
Surrey.
Essay: Sensus Communis, an Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour
Soliloquy: Soliloquy, or Advice to an Author
vii
viii List of abbreviations
WorKs by søren KierKeGaard
AC: Attack upon “Christendom”
CA: The Concept of Anxiety
CD: Christian Discourses
CI: The Concept of Irony with Constant Reference to Socrates
COR: The Corsair Affair
CUP: Concluding Unscientific Postscript, edit. and trans. by Howard V. Hong
and Edna H. Hong.
CUPL: Concluding Unscientific Postscript, trans. by David F. Swenson and
Walter Lowrie.
ED: Edifying Discourses
EO: Either/Or
FSE: For Self-Examination. Judge For Yourself!
FT: Fear and Trembling
JC: Johannes Climacus, or De omnibus dubitandum est
JP: Journals and Papers
PA: The Present Age
Pap.: Papirer
PC: Practice in Christianity
PF: Philosophical Fragments
PV: The Point of View for My Work as an Author
R: Repetition
SLW: Stages on Life’s Way
SUD: The Sickness unto Death
SV: Samlede Værker
TC: Training in Christianity
WL: Works of Love
aCKnoWLedGments
I am deeply indebted to Erin Kelly, Lionel McPherson, and Yehuda
Shavit—wonderful philosophers and dear friends—for their practical help,
commendable patience, and unflinching support. The initial research for
the book was facilitated by the help of Sarah Blatcher Cohen and Gary
Cohen, who promised to change my life, and did.
I am indebted to Simon Critchley for alerting me to the importance
of Shaftesbury and to the Kierkegaard Research Center in Copenhagen
for hosting me. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Larry Ventis and Larry
Mintz, who hosted me as a visiting scholar respectively at the College of
William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, and at the University of Mary-
land, Maryland. In Williamsburg, I enjoyed the college’s updated library
on humor as well as the support and interest of John Morreall, who, at
the time, had written all the major books on philosophy and humor. I am
deeply grateful to him.
I am truly obliged to the philosophers who commented on previous
drafts of the monograph: Erin Kelly, Yehuda Shavit, Noa Shein, Alicia
Tessler, Yair Shlein, and Eli Benzaquen. I am grateful to David Segal and
Itay Ehre for their advice on subjects pertaining to their respective areas
of expertise.
I owe much to the patience of various English editors: Judi Felber,
Kate Neptune, David Kelly-Hedrick, and especially Linda Landau, who
managed to guide the work to completion.
I wish to express my gratitude to my colleagues and friends at the
International Society for Humor Studies, the International Society for
Value Inquiry, and the various associations of Practical Philosophy for their
sustained interest in and support of my work.
I owe particular thanks to my faithful assistants, the staff and academ-
ics of my department, especially Simi Sarig, Hillel Nossek and Eva Berger,
who supported my research. The extraordiany help of the librarians at the
ix