Humour: A Very Short Introduction

Product Description

Humour has been discovered in every known human culture & thinkers have discussed it for over two thousand years Humour can serve many functions; it can be used to relieve stress to promote goodwill among strangers to dissipate tension within a fractious group to display intelligence & some have even claimed that it improves health & fights sickness In this Very Short Introduction Noel Carroll examines the leading theories of humour including The Superiority Theory & The Incongruity Theory He considers the relation of humour to emotion & cognition & explores the value of humour specifically in its social functions He argues that humour & the comic amusement that follows it has a crucial role to play in the construction of communities but he also demonstrates that the social aspect of humour raises questions such as ' When is humour immoral?' & ' Is laughing at immoral humour itself immoral?' ABOUT THE SERIES The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly Our expert authors combine facts analysis perspective new ideas & enthusiasm to make interesting & challenging topics highly readable