Moral disgust and amusement towards immoral or targeted jokes

• Main Author: Maribao, Adrian Kevin R.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Immorality; Wit and humor
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_philo/1
• Institution: De La Salle University

Numerous philosophers are in favor of the comic view that the immorality of a joke can be detrimental to its amusement. One such view is that of particular comic moralism, which claims that, for those with intramural moral reasons, an immoral joke is not amusing. It states that those with intramural moral reasons to not be amused are in a negative emotional state with high arousal, mainly, moral disgust or moral anger. This emotional state is not compatible with amusement. There is, however, evidence that shows that there are those who experience disgust and amusement at the same time, and this suggests that moral disgust is not necessarily incompatible with amusement, but could be incongruous to it instead. This would entail that for those with intramural moral reasons, immoral jokes are not always amusing, thus there are moments in which they are. This paper, while agreeing with the view of particular comic moralism, would offer modifications to its argument. The result would be a moderate version of their view which accommodates those with intramural reasons that may still find some immoral jokes funny.