Philosophy Now Forum

Would it help to say that Ayn Rand had no sense of humour? Zip. Couldn't cook, either, but that's off topic again, except in that I always got a chuckle in the novels when she'd have the hero "fix hotdogs" or something equally haute cuisine, for his friends. They never, ever told a joke or...

Harry Baird Just a couple of thoughts in response: firstly, the question of our "choice" to be in the world seems to me to be one we should remain agnostic on. As you wish. It seems to me to be *possible* that we *do* in fact choose to incarnate here, even if we lack conscious cognisance ...

There is some crazy old philosophy question - repeated by Ayn Rand in all seriousness, so you know how valid it is: Would you rather save a work of art or bandage an injured dog's paw? Of course, she think anyone who chooses the dog is a sentimental idiot... And that idiot would be me. Every time. W...

Would it be particularly *naughty* of me to reorganise those sentiments as "I believe in materialism because it brings me comfort"? :-) Be as naughty as you like. But the description certainly wouldn't fit me. I don't "believe in" materialism; I don't even use that word. I simpl...

Harry Baird: Skip, you've set yourself a particularly tough row to hoe (and I would say the same of every materialist): you've committed yourself to rejecting and "explaining away" every spiritual, "supernatural", and "paranormal" event that ever occurs - "daunting...

Academics can be quite difficult! Unnecessarily so, imo; attempting to 'elevate' their subject matter, they often only succeed in obscuring it. Communication shouldn't be that complicated - complex, yes: it always serves more than one function. Humans, with all that surplus convolution in their brai...

It's bound to be ineffective with the heavy makeup.

^^^
I like that.

Okay, I think I've a dim glimmering* of the non-aesthetic. One-upmanship, sexual innuendo, put-down, name-calling. I still haven't read the whole paper, but I see the distinction. These kinds of humour are still a shorthand (or coded) communication within a social unit and serves some important func...

So, you see humour as more functional than aesthetic? Equally? For me, it's almost on a par with colour and music: can't imagine living in a deadpan environment, and more than I could survive for very long in a grey one without trees and birds. (Ugh! Winter is coming. All that white shit... for mon...

And you would have a minuscule bit-part in an inconsequential subplot of a possibly edited-out chapter. But, hey, what do you care, as long as you know you're the real dreamer of the whole shebang?

Do you see the similarities too?

Wow! She was really something! And so was poor little Michael. I bet he watched a lot of old musicals alone, late at night, but he must have seen that one over and over.
(Gotta love youtube.)

Humour is also a social tool. What makes Zambians roll in the aisles might leave a Japanese audience bewildered. And, of course, there is the great variety in what expressions and responses to humour are deemed appropriate in each culture, age group, gender and class. So, what we each consider a goo...

When addressing questions about religion, I can only refer to what's in the readily-available literature. I have not delved at all deeply into the arcane, scholarly or esoteric. I'm dealing only with what ordinary people profess to believe; what they are taught; what they depend on for their salvati...

Not to be tediously repetitive and obvious, but these views seem to me to be a consequence of your metaphysic, which (and correct me if I'm wrong) is a materialist one, I have never denied this. If, though, you allow for the spiritual, then it is entirely possible (and even likely) that the soul su...