DOCSLIB.ORG

The London School of Economics and Political Science Hume's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The London School of Economics and Political Science Hume's The London School of Economics and Political Science Hume’s Conservative Utilitarianism: An Interpretation of David Hume’s Political and Moral Philosophy Chien-Kang (Brian) Chen A thesis submitted to the Department of Government of the London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, October 2012 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 93,861 words. I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by KBH Associates. 2 Abstract The thesis aims to recover Hume’s connection with utilitarianism. It is argued that Hume is best interpreted as a conservative utilitarian, and this is intended to be a corrective to recent approaches in Hume scholarship. Nowadays the view that Hume is one of the founders of modern utilitarianism is undermined by two views: one sees Hume as a conventionalist contractarian who is the follower of Hobbes, another situates Hume in the Scottish Enlightenment and emphasises his resemblance to Hutcheson. The thesis does not deny that Hume’s political philosophy is influenced by these philosophers. Instead, it is because these views are regarded as providing an exhaustive account of Hume that the thesis aims to challenge them. What is crucial to contemporary Hume studies is a more balanced interpretation of Hume, and this is to be found in the traditional approach which sees Hume as a utilitarian. The thesis is original because, although it recovers a traditional approach, it relates it to contemporary debate by showing that the late 20th century concern to avoid seeing everything through the eyes of utilitarianism has obscured the genuine utilitarian elements of Hume’s political philosophy. The resurgence of interest in the problems of utilitarianism is part of the legacy of post-Rawlsian political theory. Philosophers the thesis criticises such as Gauthier and Barry both follow Rawls in marginalising the contribution of utilitarianism to liberalism. For scholars, the traditional interpretation of Hume should be rejected if Hume’s political philosophy is to be secured, thus they found it on the basis of social contract. The thesis challenges them on two grounds. First, it illustrates that more similarities are to be identified between Hume and Locke. Second, it argues that Hume is best interpreted as founding the school succeeded by Burke and Sidgwick, which has impact on contemporary utilitarianism and philosophical debates. 3 Acknowledgements First and foremost, my special thanks must go to my doctoral supervisor, Professor Paul Kelly, for his patient and unfailing guidance in my development and completion of this thesis. Without his careful supervision and inspiring teachings over the last five years, I could not have developed an interpretation of Hume’s political philosophy. Without his support and encouragement, I could not have completed this doctoral dissertation. I am grateful to my advisor, Professor Katrin Flikschuh, for her valuable comments on the earlier drafts of this thesis. It has been a pleasure to be a member of the Political Theory Group of Government Department and to meet many talented researchers. I would like to thank Professor Chandran Kukathas for his comments on the earlier draft of the thesis, and for his insightful talks both in the POTY seminar and in the reading group. Also, I would like to thank my fellow doctoral students, especially Baldwin Wong and James Wong, for generously sharing their views on various aspects of life. My thanks also go to the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, the Department of Government, and the London School of Economics and Political Science for their generous financial support. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Roy Tseng of National Sun Yat-Sen University for encouraging me to further my exploration of political philosophy at the LSE. 4 Finally, I would like to acknowledge my great debt to my parents and my sister. Without their support and understanding, I would not have been able to concentrate on my research in London. It is with their care and love that I am able to understand the values of familial society in the political theories of Hume and Locke. This thesis is dedicated to them. 5 Table of contents Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................. 8 1.1 Recovering Hume’s Conservative Utilitarianism ......................... 8 1.2 Method and Approach .................................................................. 10 1.3 The Interpretation of Hume’s Political Philosophy: An Overview ................................................................................... 16 1.4 The Structure of the Argument and the Order of Chapters ...... 31 Chapter 2 Sympathy and Utility: A Comparison between Treatise and EPM ........................................................................ 39 2.1 Anatomist and Painter ................................................................. 39 2.2 Between Benevolence and Selfishness ....................................... 41 2.3 From the Treatise to EPM ............................................................. 58 Chapter 3 Anatomy of Human Nature ....................................................... 72 3.1 Unsympathetic Criticisms of Hume ............................................. 72 3.2 Hume’s Anatomy of Human Nature ............................................ 79 3.3 MacIntyre’s Defence of Hume Ethical Naturalism ..................... 92 3.4 Fountain of the Question: Hume’s Criticism of Religious Philosophy ............................................................................... 100 Chapter 4 Descriptive Naturalism and Utility ....................................... 110 4.1 Ethics: Normative and Metaethical ........................................... 110 4.2 Varieties of Naturalism .............................................................. 111 4.3 Features of Hume’s Descriptive Naturalism............................. 119 4.4 Utility and Good .......................................................................... 126 4.5 Moore’s Question ........................................................................ 135 Chapter 5 Hume’s Non-Instrumental Public Utility ............................. 142 5.1 A Third Theory of Justice ........................................................... 142 5.2 Non-Instrumental Public Utility ................................................ 147 5.3 Man’s Self-Justification and Hume’s Utilitarianism ................. 162 5.4 Hume’s Egalitarianism in Essays ............................................... 175 6 Chapter 6 Hobbesian or Lockean? Reconsidering Hume’s Theory of Property ................................................................... 186 6.1 Hardin and Barry: A Debate in the Same Camp ....................... 186 6.2 Some of Hardin’s Misunderstandings ....................................... 188 6.3 Barry: No Political Authority, No Social Order ......................... 200 6.4 Sympathy and Hume’s Social Order .......................................... 209 6.5 Sociability and Locke’s Impact on Hume .................................. 228 Chapter 7 Conservative Utilitarianism and Hume’s Political Philosophy ................................................................................. 251 7.1 The Tradition of Conservative Utilitarianism .......................... 251 7.2 Hume’s Conservatism: Wolin and Whelan ............................... 254 7.3 Negative Prescriptivism: Response to Whelan ........................ 267 7.4 Natural and Civil Moralities: Response to Wolin ..................... 276 Chapter 8 Conclusion: Conservative Utilitarianism from Hume to Burke ...................................................................................... 286 Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 305 7 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Recovering Hume’s Conservative Utilitarianism The purpose of the thesis is to recover David Hume’s theoretical connection with the tradition of utilitarianism. I argue in this thesis that Hume is best interpreted as a conservative utilitarian, and this is intended to be a corrective to more recent approaches in Hume scholarship. Recently the view that Hume is one of the founders of modern utilitarianism is undermined by two other views which are prevalent in Hume studies: one sees Hume as a conventionalist contractarian who is the follower of Thomas Hobbes, another situates Hume in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment and emphasises his resemblance to Scottish philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith. The thesis aims to challenge these interpretations of Hume by showing that neither of them alone is able to provide an adequate account of Hume’s political philosophy. Some essential elements of Hume’s political philosophy
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hume's Objects After Deleuze
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School March 2021 Hume's Objects After Deleuze Michael P. Harter Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Continental Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Harter, Michael P., "Hume's Objects After Deleuze" (2021). LSU Master's Theses. 5305. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/5305 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HUME’S OBJECTS AFTER DELEUZE A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies by Michael Patrick Harter B.A., California State University, Fresno, 2018 May 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Human beings are wholly dependent creatures. In our becoming, we are affected by an incredible number of beings who aid and foster our growth. It would be impossible to devise a list of all such individuals. However, those who played imperative roles in the creation of this work deserve their due recognition. First, I would like to thank my partner, Leena, and our pets Merleau and the late Kiki. Throughout the ebbs and flows of my academic career, you have remained sources of love, joy, encouragement, and calm.
    [Show full text]
  • The Golden Cord
    THE GOLDEN CORD A SHORT BOOK ON THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED ' " ' ..I ~·/ I _,., ' '4 ~ 'V . \ . " ': ,., .:._ C HARLE S TALIAFERR O THE GOLDEN CORD THE GOLDEN CORD A SHORT BOOK ON THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED CHARLES TALIAFERRO University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana Copyright © 2012 by the University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Taliaferro, Charles. The golden cord : a short book on the secular and the sacred / Charles Taliaferro. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-268-04238-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-268-04238-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. God (Christianity) 2. Life—Religious aspects—Christianity. 3. Self—Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Redemption—Christianity. 5. Cambridge Platonism. I. Title. BT103.T35 2012 230—dc23 2012037000 ∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 Love in the Physical World 15 CHAPTER 2 Selves and Bodies 41 CHAPTER 3 Some Big Pictures 61 CHAPTER 4 Some Real Appearances 81 CHAPTER 5 Is God Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know? 107 CHAPTER 6 Redemption and Time 131 CHAPTER 7 Eternity in Time 145 CHAPTER 8 Glory and the Hallowing of Domestic Virtue 163 Notes 179 Index 197 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful for the patience, graciousness, support, and encour- agement of the University of Notre Dame Press’s senior editor, Charles Van Hof.
    [Show full text]
  • Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics CAMBRIDGE TEXTS in the HISTORY of PHILOSOPHY
    CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY IMMANUEL KANT Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Series editors KARL AMERIKS Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame DESMOND M. CLARKE Professor of Philosophy at University College Cork The main objective of Cambridge Textsin the History of Philosophy is to expand the range, variety and quality of texts in the history of philosophy which are available in English. The series includes texts by familiar names (such as Descartes and Kant) and also by less well-known authors. Wherever possible, texts are published in complete and unabridged form, and translations are specially commissioned for the series. Each volume contains a critical introduction together with a guide to further reading and any necessary glossaries and textual apparatus. The volumes are designed for student use at undergraduate and postgraduate level and will be of interest not only to students of philosophy, but also to a wider audience of readers in the history of science, the history of theology and the history of ideas. For a list of titles published in the series, please see end of book. IMMANUEL KANT Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Come Forward as Science with Selections from the Critique of Pure Reason TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY GARY HATFIELD University of Pennsylvania Revised Edition cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521828246 © Cambridge University Press 1997, 2004 This publication is in copyright.
    [Show full text]
  • Beattie's the Minstrel: a Missing Link in Scottish Poetry
    Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 43 | Issue 2 Article 22 12-15-2017 Beattie's The insM trel: A Missing Link in Scottish Poetry Ian C. Robertson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Robertson, Ian C. (2017) "Beattie's The inM strel: A Missing Link in Scottish Poetry," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 43: Iss. 2, 237–254. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol43/iss2/22 This Article is brought to you by the Scottish Literature Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in Scottish Literature by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BEATTIE’S THE MINSTREL: A MISSING LINK IN SCOTTISH POETRY Ian C. Robertson James Beattie’s poem The Minstrel (1771-1774) has a recognized place in the development of Romantic poetry, but anthologists and critics often seem to forget the extent to which it was also an authentically Scottish poem. Part of the problem has been accessibility, though reliable editions are now available.1 Where Beattie is represented in Scottish anthologies, it has usually been through lesser or atypical poems, rather than through his most important work, and the same is true of many general Romantic anthologies. The extensive group of poets, Scots and otherwise, affected by The Minstrel, indicates the widespread influence of Beattie’s poem on both sides of the border.2 Recent decades have seen welcome scholarly reappraisal of the variety of mid-eighteenth-century Scottish poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • James Beattie.Pdf
    Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History Editors: Dr Vinita Damodaran, University of Sussex, UK Assoc Prof Rohan D’Souza, Visiting Associate Professor, Kyoto University, Japan Dr Sujit Sivasundaram, University of Cambridge, UK Assoc Prof James Beattie, University of Waikato, New Zealand Editorial Board Members: Prof Mark Elvin (Australian National University) (environmental historian of China) Prof Heather Goodall (Sydney Institute of Technology) (environmental historian of Australia) Assoc Prof Edward Melillo (Amherst College) (environmental historian of South America, the globe) Dr Alan Mikhail (Yale) (environmental history of the Middle East) Prof José Pádua (Federal University of Rio) (environmental historian of Latin America) Dr Kate Showers (University of Sussex) (environmental historian of Africa) Prof Graeme Wynn (University of British Columbia) (environmental historian of Canada) Assoc Prof Robert Peckham (Hong Kong University) (environmental historian of health, world history, Hong Kong) Global environmental degradation and climate change are some of the most pro- found challenges facing humanity. Politically engaged environmental histories with a global perspective can play a central role in addressing these contempo- rary concerns by exploring the historical dimensions of our shared crisis. This series encourages scholarship from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities that, crosses disciplines and reconceptualises the way we think about human-nature relations in time and space. It promotes historical studies that investigate all parts of the globe and all manner of environments, periods and concerns, especially in the global south, including topics such as arable and non-arable landscapes, the built environment, the Anthropocene, atmospheric and hydrological systems and animal-human interactions. We welcome, in particular, frameworks which can link environmental histories with science and technology studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Hume's Pride Or Our Prejudice?
    24 Hume’s Pride or Our Prejudice? A New Take on Hume’s Love of Fame Nathan Porter University of Utah Abstract This paper examines David Hume’s desire for fame in his eighteenth-century context. It argues that in his day, a desire for fame was not at all reproachable, because it was to be won by doing something great for the world. In Hume’s case, this seems to have been the act of liberating humankind from religious tyranny. The paper further argues that our instinctive distaste for Hume’s unabashed longing for fame is likely an unintended byproduct of the democratic societies we inhabit, and suggests that we ought to rethink the idea of fame within our own context. Introduction Of all of the thinkers of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, none has been more influential or garnered more infamy than David Hume. Born in Scotland in 1711, he began work on his magnum opus, A Treatise of Human Nature, while he was still in his early twenties, publishing it with little initial success in 1739.1 He tried his hand at essay writing, which proved a more publically fruitful endeavor than his more heavy-handed philosophizing. But the work that was most acclaimed in his day was his six-volume History of England, which turned out to be quite a popular success among his contemporaries. History has its way of turning the tables, however, and today Hume is primarily known for the works in which he presented radically skeptical views about religion, the world, and even rationality itself.
    [Show full text]
  • Hume's Racism Reconsidered
    IV HUME'S RACISM RECONSIDERED Professors Harry M. Bracken, David Fate Norton and myself, among others, have written on, and spoken about the racist views that ap­ pear in the writings of Locke and Hume.1 We have been challenged by defenders of these heroes of empirical thought, who say that these indications of racist attitudes are not part of the philosophies of these thinkers, but are, at worst, just accidental or incidental expressions of prejudices which they shared with many of their times. Therefore, we are told that these expressions should not be given any philosophical significance, but should be considered in context. These views do not follow from the empirical epistemologies of either Locke or Hume.2 I have carefully stated that I do not think that the racism expressed in Hume's essay, "Of National Characters", follows from his theory of knowledge.3 In fact, as one of the matters I shall argue for in this paper, Hume's racist contention was disproven in his own day by empirical evidence that he must have known about. Hume never modified or altered his contention in the many subsequent editions We presented some preliminary views at an early meeting of the American Soci­ ety for 18th-Century Studies at the University of Maryland in 1971. The following year I gave my paper on "The Philosophical Basis of Eighteenth-Century Racism" at the plenary session on racism at the American Society for 18th Century Studies at UCLA. Both Bracken and I published our views, and were asked to participate in a series of essays on racism in Philosophia, which we did on 1978.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Political Thought Seeks to Provide a Forum for the Interpretation and Discussion of Political Thought in Its Historical Context
    HISTORY OF CONTENTS POLITICAL THOUGHT Page 1 Editorial Articles: 3 Toleration and Truth Martin Fitzpatrick 33 Dr. Samuel Parr and Dr. Joseph Priestley: A Notable Friendship H.J. McLachlan 37 Godwin, Holcroft and the Rights of Man M. Philp 43 The London Ministers and Subscription, 1772-1779 John Stephens 73 The Beginnings of Priestley's Materialism Alan Tapper Documents: 83 Jeremy Bentham on Richard Price Yoshio Nagai An International Journal 89 George Cadogan Morgan at Oxford D.A. Rees Executive Editors: Janet Coleman and lain Hampsher-Monk, Politics Dept. 91 Richard Price: 'A Sketch of Proposals' D.O. Thomas Amory Building, Exeter University, Exeter EX4 4RJ. England Review: History of Political Thought seeks to provide a forum for the interpretation and discussion of political thought in its historical context. It is intended to 107 David Williams, Incidents in my own life foster exchange and communication between scholars in the English­ which have been thought of some importance, speaking world and those on the continent and elsewhere. ed. Peter France. Martin Fitzpatrick The journal is devoted exclusively to the historical study of political ideas and Inside Back Cover its associated methodological problems. Studies dealing with ancient, Notes to Contributors and Subscribers medieval, renaissance, early modem and recent political thought are invited. The primary focus is on research papers but from time to time reviews and surveys designed to familiarise students with the 'state of studies' concerning a particular thinker or area of research will be included. History of Political Thought is published thrice yearly by Imprint Academic, 61 Howell Road, Exeter EX4 4EY England.
    [Show full text]
  • James Beattie and the Progress of Genius in the Aberdeen Enlightenment 3
    JOBNAME: No Job Name PAGE: 1 SESS: 26 OUTPUT:Toppan Best-set Mon Premedia Sep 3 17:53:35 Limited 2012 /v2451/blackwell/journals/jecs_v0_i0/jecs_531Journal Code: JECS Proofreader: Mony Article No: JECS531 Delivery date: 03 Sep 2012 Page Extent: 17 Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies Vol. •• No. •• (2012) 1 James Beattie and the Progress of Genius in the 2 Aberdeen Enlightenment 3 4 RONNIE YOUNG 5 6 Abstract: James Beattie’s The Minstrel is often viewed as a proto-Romantic work for its 7 portrayal of the developing genius of Edwin. In this article I show how Beattie’s explora- 8 tion of genius also has a particular connection to the intellectual culture of the Aberdeen 9 Enlightenment, which was responsible for producing leading works on genius during the 10 late eighteenth century. This article examines the influence of Marischal College in 11 shaping the analysis of genius during the period. It further demonstrates the impact of the 12 Aberdeen Philosophical Society on Beattie’s thought about genius as it appears in his verse 13 and later critical writing. 14 15 Keywords: James Beattie, The Minstrel, genius, Scottish Enlightenment, Scottish Roman- 16 ticism, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen Philosophical Society 17 18 It is generally recognised that James Beattie’s poem The Minstrel had a significant influence 19 on Romantic conceptions of poetic genius, particularly in supplying a model of autobio- 1 20 graphical self-fashioning for William Wordsworth. Although representing highly signifi- 21 cant points of contact between the cultures of Enlightenment and Romanticism, such 22 influences have instead often been read simply in terms of an embryonic Romanticism, in 23 which critics project back into late eighteenth-century literary history the putative char- 24 acteristics of the Romantic imagination in utero.
    [Show full text]
  • Everard H. King Poem, the Minstrel
    Everard H. King Robert Burns and James Beattie, Minstrels "of the north countrie." In 1776 and later James Beattie's An Essay on Poetry and Music nurtured renewed interest in the age-old controversy concerning the problematic sister arts; and, as a direct consequence, Beattie's essay exercised an important influence upon the writings and public literary career of Robert Burns (1759-1796). 1 At the time Beattie was cele­ brated not only as the best-selling author of An Essay on Truth ( 1770), which was almost universally acclaimed in the English-speaking world for its demolition of the sceptical arguments of David Hume and others and for the resulting reunion in its pages of philosophical and religious thought, but also as the brilliant new poet whose Spenserian poem, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius (1771-1774), was already widely-read and admired. 2 Burns was seventeen years old in 1776 when Beattie was near the height of his fame as a writer; and for the remainder of Burns's career until his death in 1796 Beattie's achievements as a Scotsman who had won popular acclaim and critical esteem as a writer in English served as a role model for Burns's life and work. Beattie's essay on poetry and music informed its readers of the controversial debate, throughout the eighteenth century, concerning the theory and practice of reuniting the sister arts; but, more impor­ tant, it marked a significant advance on previous suggestions and claims by discerning a solution to the problem in more recent ideas and trends ofthought such as the belief that music is a form of communica­ tion and the theory of the association of ideas.
    [Show full text]
  • Scots and Scotticisms: Language and Ideology Richard W
    Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 26 | Issue 1 Article 7 1991 Scots and Scotticisms: Language and Ideology Richard W. Bailey Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Bailey, Richard W. (1991) "Scots and Scotticisms: Language and Ideology," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 26: Iss. 1. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol26/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you by the Scottish Literature Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in Scottish Literature by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Richard W. Bailey Scots and Scotticisms: Language and Ideology According to the story in Genesis, Adam and Eve recognized their nakedness only when they had eaten the fruit of forbidden knowledge. Like them, the Scots can only have been distressed linguistically when they dis­ covered in the "domestic scottis langage,,1 a cause for shame. The history of this "image" of Scots and Scots English has received attention,2 but it needs to be considered once again, particularly since Scots is the flrst regional vari­ ety of our language to undergo successful defamation in the arrogation of the name English to the dialect of southeastern Britain and the concession that Anglo-English is nonnative. Thanks to James and Leslie Milroy, scholars are once again beginning to distinguish the facts of language change from the "ideology of standardiza- Ijames A. H. Murray, ed. The Complaynt of Scotlande, EETS, Extra Series, 17 (London, 1872), 16.
    [Show full text]
  • Incongruity Theory and the Explanatory Limits of Reason Ian Jaeger Straus University of Vermont
    University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM UVM Honors College Senior Theses Undergraduate Theses 2014 Incongruity Theory and the Explanatory Limits of Reason Ian Jaeger Straus University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses Recommended Citation Straus, Ian Jaeger, "Incongruity Theory and the Explanatory Limits of Reason" (2014). UVM Honors College Senior Theses. 26. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/26 This Honors College Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Theses at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in UVM Honors College Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Incongruity Theory and Explanatory Limits of Reason Ian Straus, University of Vermont May 9th, 2014 Supervisors: Professor Tyler Doggett, Philosophy Professor Todd McGowan, Film and Television Studies 2 Chapter 1 — Introduction The purpose of this paper is to investigate and attempt to understand some ways in which humor and comedy operate with the particular goal of showing how incongruity theory explains why people find certain types of situations or experiences amusing. Many others writing on the philosophy of humor have remarked on the seemingly insurmountable difficulty of producing a comprehensive theory of humor. The sheer number and variety of situations capable of precipitating amusement has, throughout history, rendered every attempt at a formulating a foundational theory of humor ultimately unsuccessful; some are too austere and fail to account for the wide range of humorous situations while others are far too broad, allowing non-humorous situations to meet their criteria for the presence of humor.
    [Show full text]