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Full Idea
Sometimes it is exactly what is offensive about a joke that makes it funny.
Gist of Idea
Jokes can sometimes be funny because they are offensive
Source
Daniel Jacobson (Ethical Criticism and the Vice of Moderation [2006], 'emotional')
Book Ref
'Aesthetics and the Phil of Art (debates)', ed/tr. Kieran,Matthew [Blackwell 2004], p.350
A Reaction
Jacobson offers this in support of his immoralist view, that immoral literature can be aesthetically successful. It is uncomfortable to find yourself laughing at a joke of which you disapprove.
Related Idea
Idea 22697 Moral defects of art can be among its aesthetic virtues [Jacobson,D]
| 22696 | 'Autonomism' says the morality is irrelevant to the aesthetics [Jacobson,D] |
| 22697 | Moral defects of art can be among its aesthetic virtues [Jacobson,D] |
| 22700 | Immoral art encourages immoral emotions [Jacobson,D] |
| 22701 | Jokes can sometimes be funny because they are offensive [Jacobson,D] |
| 22702 | Audiences can be too moral [Jacobson,D] |
| 22699 | Moderate moralism says moral qualities can sometimes also be aesthetic qualities [Jacobson,D] |
| 22703 | We don't often respond to events in art as if they were real events [Jacobson,D] |
| 22698 | We can judge art ethically, or rate its ethical influence, or assess its quality via its ethics [Jacobson,D] |