Youve Got To Be Kidding!: How Jokes Can Help You Think

You′ve Got to Be Kidding! How Jokes Can Help You Think  focuses on a single, core issue at the heart of philosophy: our ability to think critically. The authors, a father and son team of distinguished professors, aren′t kidding around when they show us that jokes illustrate the various ways in which the thinking process goes awry. They argue that jokes “work” (we laugh) by invoking standards of rational thinking that are violated by the joke itself. They also reveal that many jokes assume certain fundamental ethical and moral truths, and what makes them amusing or funny is when one of these truths is violated. The punch line, of course, is that jokes are an invaluable resource for discussing issues of objective truth and for thinking critically about values. They also suggest that thinking critically is often a collaborative process, and that thinking often goes awry when one tries to “go it alone.” You′ve Got to Be Kidding! is a thoughtful and accessible analysis of the ways jokes illustrate how we think critically –– and that′s no laughing matter!

Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii 1 Why Thinking Critically Is Important 1 2 Fallacies of Relevance 13 3 Fallacies of Evidence 45 4 Fallacies of Assumption 80 5 Critical Thinking and Objective Truth 97 References 116 Index 119

John Capps  is an associate professor of philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Senior Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.  He has written many articles on the history of American philosophy, pragmatism, and science education. Donald Capps  is a professor in psychology of religion at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author of more than 20 books, including A Time to Laugh: The Religion of Humor (2005).