A1 Journal article (refereed)
An Answer to a Question that Cannot Be Answered : A Pragmatist Approach to Viktor Frankl’s and Primo Levi’s Theoretical Perspectives on Humor (2021)
Hietalahti, J. (2021). An Answer to a Question that Cannot Be Answered : A Pragmatist Approach to Viktor Frankl’s and Primo Levi’s Theoretical Perspectives on Humor. The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook, 2(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1515/phhumyb-2021-001
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Hietalahti, Jarno
Journal or series: The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook
ISSN: 2698-7171
eISSN: 2698-718X
Publication year: 2021
Publication date: 25/10/2021
Volume: 2
Issue number: 1
Pages range: 1-26
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Publication country: Germany
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/phhumyb-2021-001
Publication open access: Not open
Publication channel open access:
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/91789
Abstract
This article offers a pragmatist approach to concentration camp humor, in particular, to Viktor Frankl’s and Primo Levi’s conceptualizations of humor. They both show how humor does not vanish even in the worst imaginable circumstances. Despite this similarity, it will be argued that their intellectual positions on humor differ significantly. The main difference between the two authors is that according to Frankl, humor is elevating in the middle of suffering, and according to Levi, humor expresses the absurdity of the idea of concentration camps, but this is not necessarily a noble reaction. Through a critical synthesis based on pragmatist philosophy, it will be claimed that humor in concentration camps expresses the human condition in the entirely twisted situation. This phenomenon cannot be understood without considering forms of life, how drastic the changes from the past were, and what people expected from the future, if anything.
Keywords: humour; black humour; absurd; concentration camps; philosophy; pragmatism; humanity (societal properties); humanism
Free keywords: concentration camp humor; Viktor Frankl; Primo Levi; pragmatism; humanistic philosophy
Contributing organizations
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2021
JUFO rating: 1
