Abstract
The last chapter examines some important connections between humor, self-transcendence, and the development of moral virtues. I begin my analysis by examining the way in which the Superiority theory and other accounts of humor explain the phenomenon of laughing at others. In the next part of this chapter, I take a close look at the characteristics and benefits of the type of humor that we use when we makes fun of ourselves. I then turn my attention to exploring the relationship between laughing at ourselves, self-transcendence, and a number of moral virtues. In the final part of this chapter, I briefly examine what might happen to the quality of educational encounters when teachers become more comfortable with laughing at themselves. I argue that teachers’ sense of humor can not only help them cope with the multiple challenges they face but also mitigate the tendency of some educators to lose hope and become burnt-out.
An earlier version of this essay was published in Educational Theory, Vol. 60, no. 6, 2010, 735–750.
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- 1.
Slavoj Zizek has a knack for identifying many of the absurdities and incongruities that mark current foreign policy. See, for example, his essay “Iraq’s False Promises,” Foreign Policy, no. 140, (Jan/Feb, 2004), pp. 43–48.
- 2.
Of course, humor, as in the case of alcoholics, can also be used to evade dealing with the truth or changing one’s bad behavior. However, in those cases, the people making fun of themselves generally know the truth, but feel that they are incapable of change. Such humor tends to produce a reaction that is simultaneously comical and sad rather than one that is purely funny.
- 3.
The relation between the kind of humor that makes fun of oneself and the development of a number of moral virtues outlined here should not be confused with a direct causal connection. What is at stake here is merely a correlation rather than a relation based on linear causality. I do not believe that the capacity to laugh at ourselves is a precondition for the virtues described above. Still, I think that there is a strong case to be made that this capacity can help foster moral virtues such as humility, patience, and open-mindedness.
- 4.
I do not consider humor a moral virtue because it can be used to unjustly deride people or make racist, sexist, and other derogatory remarks toward others. Thus, humor is not necessarily motivated by good intentions and does not always produce beneficial results.
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Gordon, M. (2014). Learning to Laugh at Ourselves: Humor, Self-Transcendence, and the Cultivation of Moral Virtues. In: Humor, Laughter and Human Flourishing. SpringerBriefs in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00834-9_7
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