CFP: Philosophy of Humor

Guest editor:

Milan Jovanović (University of Niš)

Deadline for submissions:

the 1st of March 2027

Description

Philosophers have been reflecting on humor and laughter since antiquity. Some have touched on them only in passing, while others have made them the subject of sustained inquiry. The subject gained greater prominence in the twentieth century, beginning with Bergson’s Laughter (1900) and Freud’s study of jokes (1905). In contemporary philosophy, humor has increasingly come to be treated as a topic in its own right. Over the past few decades, interest in the subject has grown considerably, with a steady stream of influential books and articles and the establishment of journals and other venues devoted to its study. Much of the debate has revolved around the three classical theories of humor: superiority, relief, and, most prominently, incongruity. Each has faced its share of objections, from counterexamples that seem difficult to accommodate to questions about the clarity of its central concepts. Some philosophers have sought to address these difficulties by refining existing accounts; others have explored how far established theories can be extended, while still others have developed alternative explanations of humor.

These theoretical questions are only part of the picture. A substantial body of work now examines the ethical dimensions of humor, including the relationship between a joke's moral character and its comic effect, the nature of racist and sexist humor, and the circumstances in which telling or laughing at a joke is morally objectionable.

Humor, of course, presents a number of intriguing problems for the philosophy of language, as well. Jokes often depend on ambiguity, presupposition, implicature, and other features of language and communication. Joking itself raises questions about speech acts, conversational commitments, and the responsibilities speakers assume when they present something as a joke. These questions become particularly pressing in political discourse, where humor can serve as a vehicle for criticism and resistance, but also as a way of evading responsibility or advancing ideas that might otherwise be difficult to defend openly.

This special issue aims to bring together contributions addressing contemporary philosophical questions about humor, from the general theory of humor to its ethical and political dimensions. We also welcome papers that revisit historical accounts of humor and laughter, examining their arguments and assessing their relevance to current debates. Given the journal's profile, we particularly encourage submissions engaging with the philosophy of language and semiotics. Papers from other philosophical traditions and methodologies are equally welcome, provided they are clearly structured, argue rigorously, and are accessible to readers outside the author’s immediate specialization.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. (Theories of humor) How convincing are the traditional theories in light of the objections and counterexamples they have faced? Can they be revised, defended, or brought together within a broader account?
2. (Recent approaches) What do proposals such as benign violation theory, cleverness theory of humor, or play-based accounts contribute to our understanding of humor? Can they help explain cases that traditional theories struggle with?
3. (Scope of existing theories) Can established accounts explain forms of humor they were not originally developed to address, including different forms of stand-up comedy, absurdist humor, anti-jokes, and internet humor?
4. (Types and forms of humor) What can puns, irony, teasing, practical jokes, dark humor, self-deprecation, and nonsense tell us about the strengths and limitations of classical or more recent theories?
5. (Language, meaning, interpretation) Which semantic, pragmatic, and semiotic mechanisms make jokes work? What can successful jokes, failed jokes, and disagreements about whether something is funny tell us about meaning, context, and interpretation?
6. (Ethics of humor) Does a joke's moral character affect how funny it is, and if so, how? What makes a joke racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive? Can we develop clear and stable criteria for the moral evaluation of humor, given how much its assessment seems to depend on who is joking, to whom, and in what context?
7. (Humor and politics) What role does humor play in political life? When does it challenge authority and expose injustice, and when does it reinforce existing inequalities, target vulnerable groups, or allow speakers to evade responsibility for what they say?
8. (Historical perspective) What can philosophical accounts of humor and laughter from earlier periods contribute to contemporary debates? Which of their insights remain valuable, and which need to be reconsidered?

In order to submit the paper, one is kindly asked to submit the manuscript by sending it to:
[email protected] and [email protected]

All submitted papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed.