Chapter III: Varieties of Humour
The Procedure to dissect any specimen of humour
1. Determine the nature of M1 and M2 by discovering the type of logic, the rules of the game, which govern each matrix (the code must be decoded).
2. Find the “link” which is bisociated with both mental planes.
3. Define the character of the emotive charge and make a guess regarding the unconscious elements that it may contain.
Types of Humour
Pun (it is important because the reversals of logic play a considerable part in scientific discovery; also in poetry and literature.)
Man and Animal (it has the effect of a slightly degrading exposure of one or the other)
Impersonation (same technique in comic and tragic)
The Child-Adult (sense or conviction of superiority)
The Trivial and the Exalted (relation between trivial events and discovery: “The scientist’s attitude is basically similar in situations where he suddenly discovers the connection between a banal event and a general law of nature – Newton’s apple.” P. 69)
Caricature and Satire (“The humorist thrives on deformity; the artist deforms the world to recreate it in his own image.
The technique of exaggerating the relevant and simplifying or ignoring the irrelevant aspects of reality is shared not only by the artist and caricaturist but is equally indispensable to the scientist.” P. 72)
Allegory and Utopias (they expose the conventions and prejudices which are unquestionably been accepted.)
The Misfit (deformations and the out-of-the-normal)
The Paradox of the Centipede (comic effect of some disorders of behavior; the bisociation of structure and function, or of part and whole.)
Displacement (sudden shift of emphasis, the displacement of attention, from a dominant to a previously neglected aspect of the whole, showing it in a new light.)
Coincidence and Nonsense
Tickling (only if it is perceived as a mock attack, a caress in a mildly aggressive disguise.)
The Clown
Originality, Emphasis, Economy (they refer to the humorist technique, and also of the scientific theorizing and artistic creation.)
1. Determine the nature of M1 and M2 by discovering the type of logic, the rules of the game, which govern each matrix (the code must be decoded).
2. Find the “link” which is bisociated with both mental planes.
3. Define the character of the emotive charge and make a guess regarding the unconscious elements that it may contain.
Types of Humour
Pun (it is important because the reversals of logic play a considerable part in scientific discovery; also in poetry and literature.)
Man and Animal (it has the effect of a slightly degrading exposure of one or the other)
Impersonation (same technique in comic and tragic)
The Child-Adult (sense or conviction of superiority)
The Trivial and the Exalted (relation between trivial events and discovery: “The scientist’s attitude is basically similar in situations where he suddenly discovers the connection between a banal event and a general law of nature – Newton’s apple.” P. 69)
Caricature and Satire (“The humorist thrives on deformity; the artist deforms the world to recreate it in his own image.
The technique of exaggerating the relevant and simplifying or ignoring the irrelevant aspects of reality is shared not only by the artist and caricaturist but is equally indispensable to the scientist.” P. 72)
Allegory and Utopias (they expose the conventions and prejudices which are unquestionably been accepted.)
The Misfit (deformations and the out-of-the-normal)
The Paradox of the Centipede (comic effect of some disorders of behavior; the bisociation of structure and function, or of part and whole.)
Displacement (sudden shift of emphasis, the displacement of attention, from a dominant to a previously neglected aspect of the whole, showing it in a new light.)
Coincidence and Nonsense
Tickling (only if it is perceived as a mock attack, a caress in a mildly aggressive disguise.)
The Clown
Originality, Emphasis, Economy (they refer to the humorist technique, and also of the scientific theorizing and artistic creation.)
Chapter IV: From Humour to Discovery
In this chapter, Koestler will explain in more depth the connection between humour and discovery. During this process, we will see the different emotions that arise at different moments of discovery and the similarities in the creative process of seeing a joke and solving a problem, as well as how our tacit knowledge help us achieve this.
Explosion and Catharsis
Intellectual Gratification: Admiration + Self-congratulation
Discovery as “neutral”: “…I did not mean by neutrality the absence of emotion, but that nicely balanced and sublimated blend of motivations, where self-assertiveness is harnessed to the task; and where on the other hand heady speculations about the Mysteries of Nature must be submitted to the rigors of objective verification.” P. 87
At the moment of discovery, we can see a polarity of emotions. First, it’s the explosion of tension, the “Eureka!” part. Second, it’s the gradual catharsis of self-transcending emotions, the contemplative delight part. “The first is due to the fact that “I” made a discovery; the second to the fact that a discovery has been made, a fraction of the infinite revealed.” P. 88
1. Explosion of the aggressive-defensive
2. Gradual catharsis, or “earthing” (diminishing), of the participatory emotions.
“Seeing the Joke” and “Solving the Problem”
This section explains the similarities of the moments when people see or understand a joke and when they solve the problem. This is a fluid movement across the triptych.
The Creation of Humour
“The humorist’s achievement appears as an exercise in pure intellectual geometry: ‘Construct two planes inclined at a given angle and generate two curves which intersect in a given point.’ In actual fact, however, the bisociative act, in humor as in other branches of creativity, depends in varying degrees on assistance from fringe-conscious or unconscious processes.” P. 93
Paradox and Synthesis
“The creative stress under which he labours (the humorist) is not of the same kind as the emotions aroused in the audience.” P. 93 In other words, the humorist already knows the joke, he has worked that out before and has seen the incompatible matrices. The audience has not, and that’s why they laugh.
“The creative act of the humorist consisted in bringing about a momentary fusion between two habitually incompatible matrices. Scientific discovery can be described in very similar terms–as the permanent fusion of matrices of thought previously believed to be incompatible…
“Comic discovery is paradox stated–scientific discovery is paradox resolved. But here again we find, instead of a clear dividing line, continuous transitions.” P. 94-95
The humorist deliberately puts the two incompatible matrices; the scientist fusions two matrices that were seen to be incompatible.
*At the end of this chapter, there’s a very good summary of the first four chapters of this book (Part One – The Jester). P. 95
“The creative act, by connecting previously unrelated dimensions of experience, enables him to attain to a higher level of mental evolution. It is an act of liberation–the defeat of habit by originality.” P. 96
Explosion and Catharsis
Intellectual Gratification: Admiration + Self-congratulation
Discovery as “neutral”: “…I did not mean by neutrality the absence of emotion, but that nicely balanced and sublimated blend of motivations, where self-assertiveness is harnessed to the task; and where on the other hand heady speculations about the Mysteries of Nature must be submitted to the rigors of objective verification.” P. 87
At the moment of discovery, we can see a polarity of emotions. First, it’s the explosion of tension, the “Eureka!” part. Second, it’s the gradual catharsis of self-transcending emotions, the contemplative delight part. “The first is due to the fact that “I” made a discovery; the second to the fact that a discovery has been made, a fraction of the infinite revealed.” P. 88
1. Explosion of the aggressive-defensive
2. Gradual catharsis, or “earthing” (diminishing), of the participatory emotions.
“Seeing the Joke” and “Solving the Problem”
This section explains the similarities of the moments when people see or understand a joke and when they solve the problem. This is a fluid movement across the triptych.
The Creation of Humour
“The humorist’s achievement appears as an exercise in pure intellectual geometry: ‘Construct two planes inclined at a given angle and generate two curves which intersect in a given point.’ In actual fact, however, the bisociative act, in humor as in other branches of creativity, depends in varying degrees on assistance from fringe-conscious or unconscious processes.” P. 93
Paradox and Synthesis
“The creative stress under which he labours (the humorist) is not of the same kind as the emotions aroused in the audience.” P. 93 In other words, the humorist already knows the joke, he has worked that out before and has seen the incompatible matrices. The audience has not, and that’s why they laugh.
“The creative act of the humorist consisted in bringing about a momentary fusion between two habitually incompatible matrices. Scientific discovery can be described in very similar terms–as the permanent fusion of matrices of thought previously believed to be incompatible…
“Comic discovery is paradox stated–scientific discovery is paradox resolved. But here again we find, instead of a clear dividing line, continuous transitions.” P. 94-95
The humorist deliberately puts the two incompatible matrices; the scientist fusions two matrices that were seen to be incompatible.
*At the end of this chapter, there’s a very good summary of the first four chapters of this book (Part One – The Jester). P. 95
“The creative act, by connecting previously unrelated dimensions of experience, enables him to attain to a higher level of mental evolution. It is an act of liberation–the defeat of habit by originality.” P. 96