When
"The Ill Humor of the Humor Guard".
Abstract:
I wish to understand what went wrong with the recent moral panic we witnessed: Particularly, what is the role, if any, deeper moral dynamics play in generating what I call Puritan excesses. My core thesis is that those excesses are not entirely a fluke, not entirely exogenous, but somewhat endogenous, to more common moral dynamics. To make it concrete, I focus on moralizing humor as a case study. There we have plenty of data plus tantalizing examples. Finally, why is the excessive moral encroachment into the world of levity a good example for the more general problem of Puritan excesses? I conclude my talk by venturing an answer that goes beyond simply listing the various benefits humor bestows on maintaining social relations, right to the heart of human nature.
Thursday, 1/25, 12:30 - 1:30, Social Sciences 128