The Future of Post-Human Humor A Preface to a New Theory of Joking and Laughing

includes index and biblioraphy

Part one: Introduction Chapter one. Introduction - the fun of humor ......3 Humor to be, or not to be, a frog can ........3 Humor in relation to joking and laughing ......4 The theoretical debate ......10 The metamorphic theory of humor ......19 Theory and meta-theory .....20 The logic of existential dialectics ......21 Sophisticated methodological holism ......21 Chapter outline ......59 Some vlarifications ......60 Part two: Joking Chapter two. Joking and its double faces ......121 The benignity of joking ......121 Joking and the mind ......122 Joking and narure .......135 Joking and society ......143 Joking and culture .......158 The malignity of joking ......175 Part three: Laughing Chapter three. Laughing and its dual faccts .......183 The joy of laughing .....183 Laughing and the mind ....184 Laughing and nature ......197 Laughing and society .....210 Laughing and culture .....216 The sorrow of laughing ......232 Part four: conclusion Chapter four. conclusion- the future of humor ......243 Beyond joking and laughing ......243 1st thesis: The absoluteness-relativeness principle ......248 2nd Thesis: The predictability-unpredictability principle ......250 3rd Thesis: The explicability-inexplicability principle ......252 4th Thesis: The preciseness-vagueness principle ......255 5th Thesis: The simpleness-complicatedness principle .....257 6th Thesis: The openness-hiddenness principle .....259 7th Thesis: The denseness-emptiness principle ......261 8th Thesis: The slowness-quickness principle .....263 9th Thesis: The expansion-contraction principle ......265 10th thesis: The theory-praxis principle ......267 11th Thesis: The convention-novelty principle .....269 12th Thesis: The evolution-transformation principle .....271 13th Thesis: The symmetry-asymmetry principle ......274 14th Thesis: The softness-hardness principle ......276 15th Thesis: The seriousness-playfulness principle ......277 16th Thesis: The regression-progression principle .....279 17th Thesis: The sameness-difference principle ......281 18th Thesis: The post-human rendition .....284 Towards the post-human rendition .....286