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Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters

Abe and his friend Sol are out for a walk together in a part of town they haven't been in before. Passing a Christian church, they notice a curious sign in front that says "$1,000 to anyone who will convert." "I wonder what that's about," says Abe. "I think I'll go in and have a look. I'll be back in a minute; just wait for me." Sol sits on the sidewalk bench and waits patiently for nearly half an hour. Finally, Abe reappears. "Well," asks Sol, "what are they up to? Who are they trying to convert? Why do they care? Did you get the $1,000?" Indignantly Abe replies, "Money. That's all you people care about." Ted Cohen thinks that's not a bad joke. But he also doesn't think it's an easy joke. For a listener or reader to laugh at Abe's conversion, a complicated set of conditions must be met. First, a listener has to recognize that Abe and Sol are Jewish names. Second, that listener has to be familiar with the widespread idea that Jews are more interested in money than anything else. And finally, the listener needs to know this information in advance of the joke, and without anyone telling him or her. Jokes, in short, are complicated transactions in which communities are forged, intimacy is offered, and otherwise offensive stereotypes and cliches lose their sting—at least sometimes. Jokes is a book of jokes and a book about them. Cohen loves a good laugh, but as a philosopher, he is also interested in how jokes work, why they work, and when they don't. The delight at the end of a joke is the result of a complex set of conditions and processes, and Cohen takes us through these conditions in a philosophical exploration of humor. He considers questions of audience, selection of joke topics, the ethnic character of jokes, and their morality, all with plenty of examples that will make you either chuckle or wince. Jokes: more humorous than other philosophy books, more philosophical than other humor books. "Befitting its subject, this study of jokes is . . . light, funny, and thought-provoking. . . . [T]he method fits the material, allowing the author to pepper the book with a diversity of jokes without flattening their humor as a steamroller theory might. Such a book is only as good as its jokes, and most of his are good. . . . [E]ntertainment and ideas in one gossamer package."—Kirkus Reviews "One of the many triumphs of Ted Cohen's Jokes-apart from the not incidental fact that the jokes are so good that he doesn't bother to compete with them-is that it never tries to sound more profound than the jokes it tells. . . . [H]e makes you feel he is doing an unusual kind of philosophy. As though he has managed to turn J. L. Austin into one of the Marx Brothers. . . . Reading Jokes makes you feel that being genial is the most profound thing we ever do-which is something jokes also make us feel-and that doing philosophy is as natural as being amused."—Adam Phillips, London Review of Books "[A] lucid and jargon-free study of the remarkable fact that we divert each other with stories meant to make us laugh. . . . An illuminating study, replete with killer jokes."—Kevin McCardle, The Herald (Glasgow) "Cohen is an ardent joke-maker, keen to offer us a glimpse of how jokes are crafted and to have us dwell rather longer on their effects."—Barry C. Smith, Times Literary Supplement "Because Ted Cohen loves jokes, we come to appreciate them more, and perhaps think further about the quality of good humor and the appropriateness of laughter in our lives."—Steve Carlson, Christian Science Monitor

Jonathan Edwards And The Limits Of Enlightenment Philosophy

Jonathan Edwards has most often been considered in the context of the Puritanism of New England. In many ways, however, he was closer to the thinkers of the European Enlightenment. In this book. Leon Chai explores that connection, analyzing Edwards' thought in light of a number of the issues that preoccupied such Enlightenment figures as Locke, Descartes, Malebranche, and Leibniz. The book comprises three parts, each of which begins with a detailed analysis of a crucial passage from a classic Enlightenment text, and then turns to a major theological work of Jonathan Edwards' in which the same issue is explored.

Jonathan Edwards's Philosophy of Nature: The Re-enchantment of the World in the Age of Scientific Reasoning

Jonathan Edwards's Philosophy of Nature: The Re-Enchantment of the World in the Age of Scientific Reasoning analyses the works of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) on natural philosophy in a series of contexts within which they may best be explored and understood. Its aim is to place Edwards's writings on natural philosophy in the broad historical, theological and scientific context of a wide variety of religious responses to the rise of modern science in the early modern period - John Donne's reaction to the new astronomical philosophy of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo, as well as to Francis Bacon's new natural philosophy; Blaise Pascal's response to Descartes' mechanical philosophy; the reactions to Newtonian science and finally Jonathan Edwards's response to the scientific culture and imagination of his time.

Jorge Luis Borges, Post-Analytic Philosophy, and Representation (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature)

Making an important contribution to studies in Literature and Philosophy, this book reads Jorge Luis Borges philosophically, particularly in reference to his use of representation and reality. Rather than attempting to subordinate Borges to a set of philosophical constructs, to reduce Borges’ texts to mere exemplifications or illustrations of philosophical theories, the book uses Borges’s short stories to demonstrate how philosophical questions related to representation develop out of literature and actually serve as precursors to the various strains of post-analytic philosophy that later developed in the United States. The volume discusses American post-analytic philosophers Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Donald Davidson, Nelson Goodman, and Arthur Danto, as well as a wide-ranging set of philosophical ideas including reflections on Keynes, Hayek, Schopenhauer and many others . Chapters offer detailed readings of Borges’ texts extending from 1939 to 1983, locating where he thematizes issues of representation, and pursuing the logic of Borges’s text toward its philosophical implications without neglecting their literary value. The book argues that Borges’ exploration of the relationship between representation and reality places him unmistakably in the position of a precursor to the post-analytic philosophers. Illuminating the role that language plays in the creation of reality and representation, this volume makes significant contributions not only to Borges scholarship but also post-structuralism, post-analytic studies of language, semiotics, comparative literature, and Latin American literature.

Jorge Luis Borges, Post-Analytic Philosophy, and Representation (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature)

Making an important contribution to studies in Literature and Philosophy, this book reads Jorge Luis Borges philosophically, particularly in reference to his use of representation and reality. Rather than attempting to subordinate Borges to a set of philosophical constructs, to reduce Borges’ texts to mere exemplifications or illustrations of philosophical theories, the book uses Borges’s short stories to demonstrate how philosophical questions related to representation develop out of literature and actually serve as precursors to the various strains of post-analytic philosophy that later developed in the United States. The volume discusses American post-analytic philosophers Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Donald Davidson, Nelson Goodman, and Arthur Danto, as well as a wide-ranging set of philosophical ideas including reflections on Keynes, Hayek, Schopenhauer and many others . Chapters offer detailed readings of Borges’ texts extending from 1939 to 1983, locating where he thematizes issues of representation, and pursuing the logic of Borges’s text toward its philosophical implications without neglecting their literary value. The book argues that Borges’ exploration of the relationship between representation and reality places him unmistakably in the position of a precursor to the post-analytic philosophers. Illuminating the role that language plays in the creation of reality and representation, this volume makes significant contributions not only to Borges scholarship but also post-structuralism, post-analytic studies of language, semiotics, comparative literature, and Latin American literature.

José Carlos Mariátegui: Marxism and Critique of Eurocentrism (Classic and Contemporary Latin American Social Theory)

This volume explores the life, work, and impact of the Peruvian thinker José Carlos Mariátegui (1894–1930), particularly his political biography, his intellectual production, and his critique of Eurocentrism.This posthumous fame is based on the idea that, in the whole of his political-theoretical project, the relationship between Latin America and Marxism was not built using a mechanical linking of effects and causes, of the blatant copy of the theory produced in Europe, of the immediate application of positivist formulas. In this complex relationship, enigmatic and insinuating, a dissonant historical temporality emerged in Latin America. The apparently unbalanced temporalities marked the matrix of capitalist exploitation, but also present, in Mariátegui’s view, glimmers of future possibilities.This book is essential reading for scholars of social sciences and history interested in understanding the historical roots and political dilemmas of Latin American and European societies from the unique perspective of one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century.

José Carlos Mariátegui: Marxism and Critique of Eurocentrism (Classic and Contemporary Latin American Social Theory)

This volume explores the life, work, and impact of the Peruvian thinker José Carlos Mariátegui (1894–1930), particularly his political biography, his intellectual production, and his critique of Eurocentrism.This posthumous fame is based on the idea that, in the whole of his political-theoretical project, the relationship between Latin America and Marxism was not built using a mechanical linking of effects and causes, of the blatant copy of the theory produced in Europe, of the immediate application of positivist formulas. In this complex relationship, enigmatic and insinuating, a dissonant historical temporality emerged in Latin America. The apparently unbalanced temporalities marked the matrix of capitalist exploitation, but also present, in Mariátegui’s view, glimmers of future possibilities.This book is essential reading for scholars of social sciences and history interested in understanding the historical roots and political dilemmas of Latin American and European societies from the unique perspective of one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century.

José Martí: Images of Memory and Mourning

This book is a critical study of visual representations of José Martí The National Hero of Cuba , and the discourses of power that make it possible for Martí's images to be perceived as icons today. It argues that an observer of Martí's icons who is immersed in the Cuban national narrative experiences a retrospective reconstruction of those images by means of ideologically formed national discourses of power. Also, the obsessive reproduction of Martí's icons signals a melancholia for the loss of the martyr-hero. But instead of attempting to "forget Martí," the book concludes that the utopian impulse of his memory should serve to resist melancholia and to visualize new forms of creative re-significations of Martí and, by extension, the nation.

José Martí, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and Global Development Ethics: The Battle for Ideas

This book argues that the overlooked ideas of José Martí and Ernesto 'Che' Guevara explain recent politics in Latin America and the Caribbean but also, even more significantly, offer a defensible alternative direction for global development ethics.

José 'Pepe' Mujica: Warrior Philosopher President

Toward the end of his administration (2010-2015), then Uruguayan President Jose 'Pepe' Mujica made headlines across the world with a couple of unusual speeches at United Nations assemblies in Rio de Janeiro and New York that were heatedly anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-globalisation and anti-climate change all fuelled by a libertarian socialist concept of freedom. This Sancho Panza-like figure was not only one of the few presidents of developing countries not to have somehow got personally rich while in government, but was known to live modestly as a practicing farmer and gave away two-thirds of his salary to his left-wing political organisation and to social housing projects. Even more bizarre was the fact that he had become president of the country whose government he had tried to overthrow forty years earlier in a revolutionary guerrilla war, an exploit for which he spent over a decade in military jails after being shot, severely wounded and tortured. This book is an introduction to the politics and philosophy of an unrepentant permanent militant whose evolution took him from defeated guerrilla warrior to successful presidential candidate without inconsistencies or betrayals, whatever his adversaries from right and left may claim. The study sets Mujica not only in his Uruguayan and Latin American context but also within an International Left that is coming out of mourning for the loss of so-called existing socialism as they search for solutions to lessen the damage done by rampant neoliberal economics and to find creative alternatives. Stephen Gregory's polemic is essential reading for all those interested in discovering Uruguay's unique position in a Latin America where the political right is in decline and leftist governments are moving to the middle ground.

José 'Pepe' Mujica: Warrior Philosopher President

Toward the end of his administration (2010-2015), then Uruguayan President Jose 'Pepe' Mujica made headlines across the world with a couple of unusual speeches at United Nations assemblies in Rio de Janeiro and New York that were heatedly anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-globalisation and anti-climate change all fuelled by a libertarian socialist concept of freedom. This Sancho Panza-like figure was not only one of the few presidents of developing countries not to have somehow got personally rich while in government, but was known to live modestly as a practicing farmer and gave away two-thirds of his salary to his left-wing political organisation and to social housing projects. Even more bizarre was the fact that he had become president of the country whose government he had tried to overthrow forty years earlier in a revolutionary guerrilla war, an exploit for which he spent over a decade in military jails after being shot, severely wounded and tortured. This book is an introduction to the politics and philosophy of an unrepentant permanent militant whose evolution took him from defeated guerrilla warrior to successful presidential candidate without inconsistencies or betrayals, whatever his adversaries from right and left may claim. The study sets Mujica not only in his Uruguayan and Latin American context but also within an International Left that is coming out of mourning for the loss of so-called existing socialism as they search for solutions to lessen the damage done by rampant neoliberal economics and to find creative alternatives. Stephen Gregory's polemic is essential reading for all those interested in discovering Uruguay's unique position in a Latin America where the political right is in decline and leftist governments are moving to the middle ground.

Jose Rizal: Liberalism and the Paradox of Coloniality (Global Political Thinkers)

The global history of liberalism has paid too much attention to the West, neglecting the contributions of liberals from colonial nations. This book mines the thought of Filipino propagandist and novelist, Jose Rizal, to present a vision of liberalism for the colonized. It is both an introduction to Rizal and a treatise on rights, freedom, and tyranny in colonial contexts. Though a work on history, it responds to the illiberal present of rising authoritarianism and populism.

Joseph Albo on Free Choice: Exegetical Innovation in Medieval Jewish Philosophy

Scripture is replete with narratives that challenge a variety of philosophical concepts; including morality, divine benevolence, and human freedom. Free choice, a significant and much debated concept in medieval philosophy, continues to be of great interest to contemporary philosophers and others. However, scholarship in biblical studies has primarily focused on compositional history, philology, and literary analysis, not on the examination of the philosophy implied in biblical texts. In this book, Shira Weiss focuses on the Hebrew Bible's encounter with the philosophical notion of free choice, as interpreted by the fifteenth-century Spanish Jewish philosopher Joseph Albo in one of the most popular Hebrew works in the corpus of medieval Jewish philosophy: Albo's Examining narratives commonly interpreted as challenging human freedom--the Binding of Isaac, the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart, the Book of Job, and God's Choice of Israel--Albo puts forward innovative arguments that preserve the concept of free choice in these texts. Despite the popularity of The Book of Principles, Albo has been commonly dismissed as an unoriginal thinker. As a result, argues Weiss, the major original contribution of his philosophy-his theory of free choice as explained in unique exegetical interpretations-has been overlooked. This book casts new light on Albo by demonstrating both the central importance of his views on free choice in his philosophy and the creative ways in which they are presented.

Joseph Albo on Free Choice: Exegetical Innovation in Medieval Jewish Philosophy

Scripture is replete with narratives that challenge a variety of philosophical concepts; including morality, divine benevolence, and human freedom. Free choice, a significant and much debated concept in medieval philosophy, continues to be of great interest to contemporary philosophers and others. However, scholarship in biblical studies has primarily focused on compositional history, philology, and literary analysis, not on the examination of the philosophy implied in biblical texts. In this book, Shira Weiss focuses on the Hebrew Bible's encounter with the philosophical notion of free choice, as interpreted by the fifteenth-century Spanish Jewish philosopher Joseph Albo in one of the most popular Hebrew works in the corpus of medieval Jewish philosophy: Albo's Examining narratives commonly interpreted as challenging human freedom--the Binding of Isaac, the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart, the Book of Job, and God's Choice of Israel--Albo puts forward innovative arguments that preserve the concept of free choice in these texts. Despite the popularity of The Book of Principles, Albo has been commonly dismissed as an unoriginal thinker. As a result, argues Weiss, the major original contribution of his philosophy-his theory of free choice as explained in unique exegetical interpretations-has been overlooked. This book casts new light on Albo by demonstrating both the central importance of his views on free choice in his philosophy and the creative ways in which they are presented.

Joseph Butler: The Analogy of Religion

Joseph Butler's The Analogy of Religion (1736) is an important work in terms of its historical influence and its contemporary relevance. In it, Butler defends Christian belief against many well-known objections: for instance, that the evidence for Christianity is weak; that it is impossible to believe in miracles; that if God existed he would have revealed himself clearly to everyone. The problems Butler discusses are current in contemporary philosophy of religion, but his answers are often ignored, or given short shrift. Butler argues that by examining this world we have reason to believe its Creator is both benevolent and just; that virtue will be rewarded and vice punished. Even if we have doubts, we would be well advised to take Christianity seriously, given what is at stake. The work includes seminal discussions of life after death, personal identity, and the structure of our ethical thought. In addition to extensive notes, David McNaughton's edition includes a detailed synopsis, a selection from the correspondence between Butler and Samuel Clarke, and an oveview of philosophical influences on Butler's thought.

Joseph Butler: The Analogy of Religion

Joseph Butler's The Analogy of Religion (1736) is an important work in terms of its historical influence and its contemporary relevance. In it, Butler defends Christian belief against many well-known objections: for instance, that the evidence for Christianity is weak; that it is impossible to believe in miracles; that if God existed he would have revealed himself clearly to everyone. The problems Butler discusses are current in contemporary philosophy of religion, but his answers are often ignored, or given short shrift. Butler argues that by examining this world we have reason to believe its Creator is both benevolent and just; that virtue will be rewarded and vice punished. Even if we have doubts, we would be well advised to take Christianity seriously, given what is at stake. The work includes seminal discussions of life after death, personal identity, and the structure of our ethical thought. In addition to extensive notes, David McNaughton's edition includes a detailed synopsis, a selection from the correspondence between Butler and Samuel Clarke, and an oveview of philosophical influences on Butler's thought.

Joseph Butler: Fifteen Sermons and other writings on ethics

Joseph Butler's Fifteen Sermons (1729) is a classic work of moral philosophy, which remains widely influential. The topics Butler discusses include the role of conscience in human nature, self-love and egoism, compassion, resentment and forgiveness, and love of our neighbour and of God. The text of the enlarged and corrected second edition is here presented together with a selection of Butler's other ethical writings: A Dissertation of the Nature of Virtue, A Sermon Preached Before the House of Lords, and relevant extracts from his correspondence with Samuel Clarke. While this is a readers' edition that avoids cluttering Butler's text with textual variants and intrusive footnotes, it comes complete with scholarly apparatus intended to aid the reader in studying Butlers work in depth. David McNaughton contributes a substantial historical and philosophical introduction that highlights the continuing importance of these works. In addition, there are extensive notes at the end of the volume, including significant textual variants, and full details of Butler's sources and references, as well as short summaries of Butler's predecessors, and a selective bibliography. This will be the definitive resource for anyone interested in Butler's moral philosophy.

Joseph Butler: Fifteen Sermons and other writings on ethics

Joseph Butler's Fifteen Sermons (1729) is a classic work of moral philosophy, which remains widely influential. The topics Butler discusses include the role of conscience in human nature, self-love and egoism, compassion, resentment and forgiveness, and love of our neighbour and of God. The text of the enlarged and corrected second edition is here presented together with a selection of Butler's other ethical writings: A Dissertation of the Nature of Virtue, A Sermon Preached Before the House of Lords, and relevant extracts from his correspondence with Samuel Clarke. While this is a readers' edition that avoids cluttering Butler's text with textual variants and intrusive footnotes, it comes complete with scholarly apparatus intended to aid the reader in studying Butlers work in depth. David McNaughton contributes a substantial historical and philosophical introduction that highlights the continuing importance of these works. In addition, there are extensive notes at the end of the volume, including significant textual variants, and full details of Butler's sources and references, as well as short summaries of Butler's predecessors, and a selective bibliography. This will be the definitive resource for anyone interested in Butler's moral philosophy.

Joseph Carens: Between Aliens and Citizens (Münster Lectures in Philosophy #6)

This book offers a critical discussion of Joseph Carens’s main works in migration ethics covering themes such as migration, naturalization, citizenship, culture, religion and economic equality. The volume is published on the occasion of the annual Münster Lectures in Philosophy held by Joseph Carens in the fall of 2018. It documents the intellectual exchange with the well-known philosopher Joseph Carens by offering critical contributions on Carens’s work and commentaries of Carens as a reply to these critical contributions. With his various works on migration ethics, Joseph Carens must be seen as one of the leading academics in the political and ethical discourse of migration in the last years. The topic of migration raises questions not only regarding naturalization and citizenship but also cultural, economic and religious differences between aliens, citizens and persons whose status lies in between and calls for further determination. Such questions gain more and more importance in our globalized world as can be seen for example in the context of the refugee crisis in the European Union and the U.S. The book covers different systematic topics of Carens’s work as can be found in his widely read book “The Ethics of Immigration” but also in further publications. It provides papers with critical discussions of Carens’s work as well as his responses to these, thus enabling and documenting the fruitful dialogue between the contributors and Carens himself. The aim of this book is to sharpen and shed light on Carens’s arguments concerning migration by offering new and critical perspectives and fine-grained analyses.

Joseph Chamberlain: International Statesman, National Leader, Local Icon

Winston Churchill described Joseph Chamberlain as 'the man who made the weather' for twenty years in British politics between the 1880s and the 1900s. This volume contains contributions on every aspect of Chamberlain's career, including international and cultural perspectives hitherto ignored by his many biographers. It breaks his career into three aspects: his career as an international statesman, defender of British interests and champion of imperial federation; his role as a national leader, opposing Gladstone's crusade for Irish home rule by forming an alliance with the Conservatives, campaigning for social reform and finally advocating a protectionist economic policy to promote British business; and the aspect for which he is still celebrated in his adopted city, as the provider of sanitation, gas lighting, clean water and cultural achievement for Birmingham – a model of civic regeneration that still inspires modern politicians such as Michael Heseltine, Tristram Hunt and David Willetts.

Joseph Chamberlain: A Most Radical Imperialist (International Library of Historical Studies)

A powerful politician and brilliant orator, Joseph Chamberlain came to be one of the most dynamic political figures of the late-Victorian and early-Edwardian eras. He was the driving force of every political group of which he was a member, earning him the name 'Pushful Joe'. Yet despite this, Chamberlain is remembered as a somewhat contradictory figure. During his early career as a radical Liberal, Chamberlain sought to create a radicalised national movement, organising the National Liberal Federation as a means of spreading radical propaganda throughout the countryside. Soon after the establishment of this organisation and his subsequent rise in power, in which he became a member of Gladstone's cabinet, Chamberlain supported British military intervention in Egypt - a decision said by many to reflect imperialist views, and to be contrary to Chamberlain's Liberal ideals.In fact just a short time later, the parliamentary campaign of 1886 that resulted in the Liberal Split saw Chamberlain and his Liberal Unionist Party ally itself with the Conservatives. Furthering his departure from his early radical views, Chamberlain became Colonial Secretary to Lord Salisbury and was one of the main supporters of the Boer War. After taking up with the Conservatives, however, Joseph Chamberlain became deeply dissatisfied with the leadership of Salisbury and Arthur Balfour, and was instrumental in their downfall.But what drove Chamberlain to practice politics in manner in which he did? Travis Crosby here examines the motives of the ever-intriguing Chamberlain, exploring his continual personal quest for power and control, fostered by his upbringing and his ancestral tradition of entrepreneurship. Crosby considers Chamberlain's considerable accomplishments and provides an illuminating analysis of one of Britain's most influential politicians.

Joseph Goebbels: Life and Death

An insightful new biography of Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister of the 'Third Reich' and one of the most important and troubling figures of the twentieth century. The first account to use all of Goebbels' surviving diaries, it sheds new light on his personality, private life and political convictions, as well as his relationship with Hitler.

Joseph Liouville 1809–1882: Master of Pure and Applied Mathematics (Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences #15)

Joseph Ratzinger in Dialogue with Philosophical Traditions: From Plato to Vattimo

This book extensively explores the various influences and connections between Joseph Ratzinger and a number of leading philosophers; engaging with his work by means of Spanish, Portuguese, German, and English schools of thought through the contributions of a global body of scholars. Each chapter in this volume examines precisely how Ratzinger has dealt with the ideas of a particular philosopher, and how he has appropriated their ideas and thoughts. Moving from philosophers he has modified or critiqued – such as Kant, Comte or Wittgenstein – to those who have contributed to his philosophical theology, such as Guardini and Pieper, this truly international endeavour is an extraordinary journey into Ratzinger's engagement with his competing and congenial schools of thought.

Joseph Ratzinger in Dialogue with Philosophical Traditions: From Plato to Vattimo

This book extensively explores the various influences and connections between Joseph Ratzinger and a number of leading philosophers; engaging with his work by means of Spanish, Portuguese, German, and English schools of thought through the contributions of a global body of scholars. Each chapter in this volume examines precisely how Ratzinger has dealt with the ideas of a particular philosopher, and how he has appropriated their ideas and thoughts. Moving from philosophers he has modified or critiqued – such as Kant, Comte or Wittgenstein – to those who have contributed to his philosophical theology, such as Guardini and Pieper, this truly international endeavour is an extraordinary journey into Ratzinger's engagement with his competing and congenial schools of thought.