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Humor

Nothing Is Funny But Laughing Makes It So

Alan Soble encounters problems in thinking about comedy.

In ‘Deconstructing Faculty Doors’ (Academe 92:1, 2006), Karl Petruso, an archaeologist, recounted his study of clippings posted on the office doors of academics at the University of Texas. In particular, his research focused on the number of the ‘humorous’ compared with ‘pedagogical’ (educational) posts on the doors. Petruso examined 157 faculty doors and approximately 369 postings. He calculated a ‘Humor/Pedagogy Index’ Ψ (the ratio of humorous/pedagogical items) for twelve departments. The highest Ψ in Petruso’s study was achieved by the ‘Philosophy and Humanities’ department: 3.

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