Humour and Cruelty, Volume 1: A Philosophical Exploration of the Humanities and Social Sciences

556 Pages·2022·4.689 MB·English

by  Giorgio Baruchello, Ársæll Már Arnarsson (eds.)

Giorgio Baruchello, Ársæll Már Arnarsson
Humour and Cruelty, Vol. 1
De Gruyter Studies in
Philosophy of Humor
Edited by
Lydia Amir
Editorial Advisory Board
Noël Carroll, CUNY, New York, NY, USA; Simon Critchley, The New School,
New York, NY, USA; Daniel Dennett, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA;
Stephen Halliwell, St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, UK;
Kathleen Higgins, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA; John Lippitt,
University of Notre Dame, Sydney, NSW, Australia; John Morreall,
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA; Robert C. Roberts,
Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA; Quentin Skinner, Queen Mary University of
London, UK.
Volume 1
Giorgio Baruchello,
Ársæll Már Arnarsson
Humour
and Cruelty
Volume 1: A Philosophical Exploration of the
Humanities and Social Sciences
ISBN 978-3-11-075976-1
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-075983-9
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-076001-9
ISSN 2699-3481
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022941915
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
To Rachael and Guðríður

Acknowledgements
Countless people must be acknowledged for having tried to prevent this book
from being written. Every time either of its authors, when not even both of
them,decidedthatitwasagoodtimeforjottingdownsomethoughtsabouthu-
mourandcruelty,someoneshowedupandclaimedthattherewasamoreurgent
thingtobedone.Amercilesshordeofstudents,colleagues,managers,ministers,
administrators, children, close relatives, distant relatives, neighbours, neigh-
bourly strangers and strange individuals conjured up all kinds of requests, du-
ties, reports, reproaches, demands, reminders, delicate subjects and subjective
derelictionsthatmadeitnearlyimpossibleforustocompleteourtask.Evenmi-
croscopicvirusesbelieveditabrilliantideatostartwanderingallovertheplan-
et,causingallsortsofdisruptionstoourprojectand,intheprocess,asseverea
pandemicastheworldhadnotseensincethefinalyearsoftheFirstWorldWar.
Nevertheless, in a proud feat of obstinate intellectual commitment, we
succeeded; eventually. No challenge proved to be insurmountable, though
they all were sufficiently challenging as to be, at least, a pain in the neck,
in the back, or a headache. No enmity or adversity stopped us. Not even the
episodic dissatisfaction of other experts, our darkest bouts of depression, a
volcanic eruption taking place under our noses, the eruption’s attendant
earthquakes, chronic illnesses, or the occasional glitch in the software to
which so much of our precarious daily existence and doubtful self-esteem
areentrusted.Therefore,thebookthatyouholdinyourhands,orthatyoupe-
ruseonyourcomputer screen, is the resultofthis prolongedstruggle, aswell
asofamuchlongerandoftenpainfulprocessofacculturation,study,rumina-
tion,discussion,reconsideration,andoccasionallymistypedexpression.With
thislatterlongertrajectoryalsoinmind,weputherebyonrecordthenamesof
agoodfewerspecialpersonswho,unlikethebarbariansatthegatesthatwere
mentioned in the opening lines above, demonstrated themselves to be genu-
inely helpful, if not pivotal,with regard to the present volume,either directly
or indirectly.
LydiaAmiristhefirsthumanbeingdeservinganexplicitreferenceandsin-
gular commendation. Her inspiring and uncommon penchant for Giorgio Baru-
chello’s research on the issue of humour, rather than on that of cruelty, plus
her out-of-the-blue suggestion that these two distinct lines of his philosophical
work should be combined together into a book, are the two main causes of
thetomethatÁrsællMárArnarssonandheendedupco-authoring—andwithout
murderingeachotherintheprocess(although,tobehonest,somedeaththreats
were exchanged).This book, in short, is her fault. (Thank you, Lydia. It was a
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110759839-001
VIII Acknowledgements
great idea. Hopefully, we did not disappoint you. Too much.) Besides, it is
through Lydia Amir that we were able to interact effectively with two members
of the International Association for the Philosophy of Humor who provided us
withvaluablefeedback,i.e.,SteveGimbelandAyeletLilti.Similarly,itisthrough
Lydia Amir that we were introduced to Christoph Schirmer, Senior Acquisitions
EditorforPhilosophyatDeGruyter,whoprovedtobenotonlyremarkablycom-
passionate for a publisher, but also gifted with a wicked sense of humour, as
well as decisive in transforming our original project from a single monograph
into three distinct books.
MikaelM.KarlssonandG.RobertoBuccolaaretwomorenamesthatmustbe
added to our listof praiseworthy individuals. Inverydifferent ways,years,pro-
fessional contexts, and volcanic islands, they made it possible for the two au-
thors to get to know each other, appreciate each other’s professional skills
and competences, realise their common grounds and shared interests, and ex-
changemutuallyagreatdealofideasandusefulinformation.Allofthishappen-
ing,incidentally,longbeforethenotionofaheftyvolumedealingwithhumour
and crueltyhad evenbegun tobe a theoretical,veritablyacademic, hypothesis.
(Bytheway,overthesameyears,GiorgioBaruchelloandÁrsællMárArnarsson
managedtobecomeverygoodfriendsaswell,whichmadecollaboratingonthe
present book somewhat pleasant, at times, and generally tolerable an experi-
ence.)
Therearethennumerouspersonswho,inextremelydiversesettingsandsets
ofcircumstances,facilitatedeachauthor’sinvestigationofeitherkeyissue,i.e.,
humourandcruelty,thoughneverbothissuesatthesametime.Theselaudable
personsarescatteredallovertheworld:AntonioCasadodaRochainSpain,Fab-
rizioVenezianoinFrance,GarrettBardeninIreland,R.T.Allen(oftheBritishPer-
sonalistForum)andKristjánKristjánsson(oftheJubileeCentreforCharacterand
Virtues)inEngland,EdwardHákonHuijbensintheNetherlands,JacobDahlRe-
ndtorffinDenmark,IngeridStraumeinNorway,TeroMustonenandLarsGunnar
Lundsten in Finland, Anastasiya Maria Savran in Austria, Zoltán Vajda in Hun-
gary,NeriSevenierinIsrael,LiliiaUlaevaintheRussianFederation,IrakliAva-
lianiinGeorgia,JuqianLiinthePeople’sRepublicofChina,TimMurphyinMa-
laysia, Charles Tandy in Taiwan, Evandro Agazzi in Mexico, Colin D. Pearce,
Maggie Schein and Wendy C. Hamblet in the US, and, also in the land of the
free, the kindest cruelty scholar who ever lived, Rev. Michael R. Trice, with
whom innumerable views and considerations have been exchanged for many
years.
Manynotableandadmirableindividuals,however,areconcentratedinthree
countries. In Iceland: Sigurður Kristinsson,Geir Sigurðsson, Jürgen Jamin, Sva-
var Alfreð Jónsson, Rachael Lorna Johnstone,the veryefficient and highly pro-
Acknowledgements IX
fessional staff workingat the onlyseemingly remote libraryof the Universityof
Akureyri, and the talented duo comprising Raymond Snider and maestro Phil
Doyle,who were curious and patient enough to assist us with some proofread-
ing, which became eventually Audrey Matthews-Hill’s cup of tea. In Italy: Mi-
cheleMarsonet,CarloPenco,EmilioMazza,ValeriaOttonelli,andMirellaPasini,
allofwhomcanbedeemedexpertsinthehumour-rifefieldofBaroncellistudies.
InCanada:JeffMitscherling,JeffNoonan,NatalieEllenEvans,theprolificauteur
BrendanMyers,theSocraticprovocateurChrisDiCarlo,andthetrulyemeritiKen
DorterandJohnMcMurtry,whoweremostgenerouswithdetailedcommentson
selectpartsofourbook.Thelatteremeritus,sadly,passedawayoneweekbefore
we submitted the final manuscript to De Gruyter.
Three more marvellous persons,whomwe include here for manygood rea-
sonscallingfornoexplicitbelabouring,are,likeProf.McMurtry,nolongerwith
usinthisworld.Theirnamesare,àpropos,FlavioBaroncelli,plusÁgústÞórÁr-
nason and Ileana Szymanski. Hopefully, as we write these lines and think of
them, they are enjoying each other’s humorous banter before God’s approving
smile, rather than sufferingalone before a devil’s cruel smirk.One day,though
neither of us can know exactly when,we willgo and check on how the four of
them aredoing.Wherevertheyare,itcannot benearlyasbad asit keepsbeing
on this bizarre and suffering planet of ours.
Iceland, May 2022
Giorgio Baruchello and Ársæll Már Arnarsson