PHIL 3455

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  • Schedule of Classes - October 31, 2025 7:07PM EDT

PHIL 3455
Humor and Morality

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This course is about the surprisingly intricate relationship between humor and morality. We will investigate several theories of humor (theories of what makes things funny), we then turn our attention to what the general relation between humor and morality might be: does immorality in a joke or wisecrack eliminate its funniness, dampen its funniness, have no effect on its funniness, or increase its funniness? Then the focus will turn to specific types of morally troublesome humor, including racist and sexist jokes, stereotype-exploitation more generally, mockery, jokes about disability and assault, and punching up and down. The course will conclude by investigating what makes for a good or bad sense of humor, as well as the possible absurdity of life and how that might be funny.


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Syllabi:

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: PHIL 6450

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 18114 PHIL 3455   SEM 101

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 20 - May 5, 2026

    • Shoemaker, D

  • Instruction Mode: In Person