NEH Enduring Questions Course on "What Is the Nature of Human Laughter and Humor?"

FAIN: AQ-50840-13

UCLA; Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA 90024-4201)
Otto Santa Ana (Project Director: September 2012 to July 2015)

The development of a cross-listed undergraduate course on the nature of human laughter and humor.

IS THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF LAUGHTER MALEVOLENT OR BENEVOLENT? This EQ might surprise you, since today it's commonplace to believe that "laughter is the best medicine." But the eminent thinkers of the Western tradition have not always been so sanguine. Hobbes and Bergson did not think laughter was benign. For dissimilar reasons Locke and Bahktin disputed this. The EQ encapsulates topics that scientists now urgently study. The course will deepen students' understanding of human nature by applying humanist insights to a contemporary phenomenon. It makes manifest the importance of asking EQs. Students consume comedy, but are only dimly aware that their amusement has political effects--due to laughter's nature. Moreover, they may not realize that media conglomerates sell their laughter as a commodity. The humanist tradition equips them to better reflect on these weighty implications of laughter. And they'll learn that when scientists dismiss humanist considerations, their science suffers.

Associated Products

“A non-language based evolutionary model of human laughter and humor,” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “A non-language based evolutionary model of human laughter and humor,”
Abstract: Invited speaker “A non-language based evolutionary model of human laughter and humor,” Linguistics Department, Georgetown University, March 19, Washington DC
Author: Otto SANTA ANA
Date: 03/19/2014
Location: Georgetown University

“What are Colbert and Leno really doing? The social organizing power of political humor,” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “What are Colbert and Leno really doing? The social organizing power of political humor,”
Abstract: Invited speaker, “What are Colbert and Leno really doing? The social organizing power of political humor,” John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität, May 16, Berlin Germany.
Author: Otto SANTA ANA
Date: 05/16/2013
Location: Berlin, GERMANY

“The Thin Edge of the Wedge: Humor as a source of social control” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “The Thin Edge of the Wedge: Humor as a source of social control”
Abstract: Invited speaker, “The Thin Edge of the Wedge: Humor as a source of social control,” Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, March 26, Tucson.
Author: Otto SANTA ANA
Date: 03/26/2013
Location: Tucson Arizona

Templeton Fellowship (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Templeton Fellowship
Abstract: $100,000 Templeton Fellowship, Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study, 2015–16
Author: Otto SANTA ANA
Date: 01/01/2015
Location: South Bend, Indiana

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