03 Dec A sense of humour – even a dark one – is a moral virtue
Humour is sometimes seen as frivolous.
Laughing is usually acknowledged as fun, and enjoyable, but it’s rarely seen as a virtue or strength.
But surely something that boosts happiness and assists with resilience should be valued.
If you’d like to understand why, read on …
via Psyche by Mark Alfano and Mandi Astola
Humour can be cruel, especially when it’s dark or mocking. In fact, a leading theory of humour, the benign violation theory, suggests that humour always involves a norm transgression. And many morally reprehensible people have a great sense of humour – Bill Cosby comes to mind – or think of the character Eleanor Shellstrop from the TV show The Good Place, who is shockingly selfish but hilarious to boot. Despite all this, it’s common to think that having a sense of humour actually makes someone a better person. If this is true, it should therefore be added to the pantheon of virtues. To explain why, consider this question: what is a good person?
Every moral theory offers an answer to this question, but one in particular centres the question of what a good person is (rather than what a right action is). This theory is virtue ethics. Virtue ethics works like this: moral goodness is an attribute of character. When you say something is morally good, you are saying, presupposing, implying or entailing that someone is morally good. When you say it is good to give money to homeless people, you are saying that the kind of person who gives money to the homeless is likely to be a good person. People can develop good traits just by doing the kind of stuff that good people would do. Think of it as moral practice, just like practising any other skill.
So when we ask ‘What is a good person?’ the answer from virtue ethics is: a person who possesses character traits that make them admirable or that contribute to flourishing (or both).
The idea that good people are made of good character traits goes back to ancient Greece. Aristotle argued that good character traits are always in the middle between two bad extremes. For example, courage is the golden mean between cowardice (fearing too much, or too many things) and foolhardiness (fearing too little, or too few things). Virtues enable us to aim at the golden mean across situations by helping us govern our emotions. Courage, for instance, will temper your fear when it is excessive, and boost it when it’s deficient. In this way, you will end up calmly confronting your boss about your meagre salary without resorting to threats or name-calling (no matter how richly they deserve it). Your coworkers – and perhaps even your boss – may admire your nerves of steel, and you might even get the raise, which would contribute to your flourishing.
Often, virtues govern more than one emotion. Just as courage might also boost or inhibit the feeling of pride as well as fear, so a good sense of humour regulates multiple emotions. Ever hate someone for a stupid reason? Such as whoever got that job instead of you, or your ex’s new partner. This kind of contempt is normal but it can be ruinous if you let it go too far. That’s why it’s good to joke about it. Exaggerate your jealousy. Talk about it like it’s ridiculous (because it is). This helps to chill excessive contempt. We admire people who are able to laugh at themselves, and this ability contributes to their flourishing by helping them let go…
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