Humor and sarcasm from the perspective of ethical philosophies

Author's name: Abdullah Al-Kadali Publisher: Al-Markaz Al-Thaqafi Lil-Kitab Year of publication: 2018 Literary classification: Philosophy and Thought Brief about the book: The history of laughter is the history of humanity, the history of civilization, and therefore it was the gateway that philosophers used to build the state (ideal, civil, democratic, progressive, just…) at times, and to build thought at other times, and to delve into the human soul at a third time, and so on. Perhaps there is some justification for our saying "Philosophies of Ethics," as the ethical debate about the purpose of laughter and the causality of laughter has occupied scholars and philosophers in various disciplines and different intellectual and philosophical issues… Different perspectives and varying estimates and evaluations have been made regarding the role of humor in building and maintaining moral values, and it appears that part of this disagreement is due to differing understandings of ethics and its function in human societies. Another part is attributed to the problematic nature of laughter and humor, as the moral question is complex and historically challenging throughout philosophical inquiry. In the realm of ethics, human issues intersect collectively and separately, with instinct and reason, private and public, fixed and variable, material and spiritual, and others intertwined. On the other hand, humor possesses an astonishing ability to influence and persuade to the extent that it can strengthen social relationships and reinforce them, and at the same time, destroy and ruin them. Laughter encapsulates most existential questions that reconsider human truth, explore the possibilities of survival, dominance, and distinction, and examine the human position in the universe and his fate within the historical process. No matter how interpretations, justifications, and schools of ethics and philosophies approach humor and reveal its facets and its relationship with morals and values, all are governed by two major philosophical visions: A revolutionary reformist vision that supports humor and defends the right to laugh as a means to defend the right to think, and A vision that opposes humor, despises it, and calls for its rejection and exclusion from public life and creative discourse as a way to provide protection, achieve stability, and ensure the continuation of the human race.