Having a sense of humour may not be necessary for doing philosophy, but it may help.

The Irish Times reports on the latest instalment, The Trip to Greece, of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s BBC series, The Trip, in which they seek to follow in the footsteps of Socrates and Aristophanes.

As Norman Malcolm reported, “Wittgenstein once said that a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist entirely of jokes (without being facetious).” Norman Malcolm, Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir.

Tim Madigan, who also quotes and discusses Wittgenstein comment relayed via Malcolm, proposes that in philosophy ‘jokes are no laughing matter’ in his short and accessible piece on Philosophy and Humour.

Picking up on a similar point, here is a snippet from by Obituary of Jerry Fodor (1935-2017):

He had a wonderfully irreverent way of concisely setting issues on a larger canvas by introducing us to a cast of characters: Auntie, Granny, Greycat, Snark, and others. His work is a welcome relief from more sober and serious styles of doing philosophy. Although not everyone is a fan of his playful way of writing, I for one wholly applaud it, as protection against taking ourselves too seriously, and because it allows no room for arguing from authority. His style also allows us to focus quickly and firmly on what really matters. Rob Rupert put it well in a review, noting that “these devices allow Fodor to get at the meat of issues without the circuitous ado.