Schopenhauer Research Articles

Being and Becoming of Music: Limits of Thought and Practice

According to musicologist Christopher Small, the treatment of music in musicology carries fundamentally flawed historical premises. Instead of focusing on music through art „objects“, anything understood as „music“ should be examined on the grounds of its spatiotemporal appearance, as a social activity of musicking and the unfolding event. The emphasis of the verb „musicking“ instead of the substantive „music“ signifies a reinterpretation of a static into a processual concept. According to Small, musical meaning is formed with regards to the time and space of the immersive situation and the bodily encounter of participating individuals. This processual intervention over existing musical concepts through reinterpretation as „musicking“ opens the door to a broader philosophical scope. In order to approach two seemingly opposed interpretations of the subject matter mentioned above, I will attempt a reinterpretation of Small with reference to Arthur Schopenhauer’s concept of the „Will“, but with a more detailed emphasis on the expanded principle of the „Dyonisian“ and „Apollonian“ as suggested by Friedrich Nietzsche. I will further suggest some criteria for interpretation of any potential „musicking“ through several points of contention between Small’s musicology and Nietzsche’s philosophy. For this, I will utilize Nietzsche’s philosophical opposition between Being and Becoming serving as foundations of knowledge and art. The suggestion is that, while the entanglement of the Apollonian „image“ and the Dyonisian „rush“ enables the emergence of music as art, the foundation of Small’s „musicking“ lies in the non-ethical character of the Dyonisian—in what lies „behind“ the phenomenon and conceptualization of it. This ultimately questions the implication of music „as“ art, as it suggests that any justification thereof can not be considered outside of the subjective disposition encountering the event, nor beyond the individual disposition emerging within it. „Musicking“ doesn’t emerge with any cultural, social, symbolic or teleological purpose, but attains any one of these as soon as it’s designated „as-such“ by those principles that enable the concept to emerge in the first place. This, despite its broadly influential treatise, ultimately reveals the limits of Small’s „musicking“.

Balancing the radical and the incremental: CEO affiliative humor and organizational ambidexterity

Organizational ambidexterity is positively associated with firm performance. Yet, it is difficult for CEOs to implement ambidextrous strategies as the radical and incremental innovations that underlie ambidexterity are seemingly incongruous. As such, an important task for both scholars and practitioners involves discerning which factors influence organizational ambidexterity. Building on incongruity theory, we address this puzzle by focusing on CEO affiliative humor, establishing its link with ambidexterity, and further developing and testing theory related to boundary conditions. Through videometric analysis of executive interviews, textual analysis of quarterly earnings calls, and a series of supplemental tests, we offer robust evidence for our study's key relationships. Our study thus makes several contributions, including shedding light on a new pathway—CEO affiliative humor—through which firms can carry out and manage the radical and incremental innovations that underlie ambidexterity, as well by highlighting the complementary role of the CEO-director interface in this regard.

Kant and Schopenhauer on the Ultimate Goal of Human Life

Contemporary reflection concerning man focuses upon man as a being living only “here and now”, it is “short-termed” in character. In this paper, going against the current of this dominant tendency, I would like to show how interesting and important is the question about the ultimate goal of human life. In my considerations I refer to the thought of Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer – two classical authors of modern philosophy – who still seem to exert a significant influence on the European culture. Even if in their systems they depart from similar assumptions, their conclusions concerning man are radically different: for Kant, every human being has unique value and is called to create “civil society”; for Schopenhauer every individual being (including man) is volatile and devoid of meaning and value. The question remains open as to whether the ultimate message of their philosophy can be still an inspiration for us today, or whether it already sounds rather strange and unfamiliar in confrontation with the spirit of modernity.

Mere light

ABSTRACT The special issue Mere Light examines hidden paradoxes of light, perhaps the most conventional imagistic figure known to literature and philosophy alike. In this introduction, the editors lay out the stakes of the special issue, while offering brief readings of passages from Roland Barthes, Marcel Proust, Martin Heidegger, Immanuel Kant, and Arthur Schopenhauer that disrupt some of light’s conventional associations – as an unproblematic emblem of meaning, mimesis, truth, or the aesthetic itself – to reveal a deeper obscurity.

Zwierzę, które spać nie może. Bezsenność w antropologii filozoficznej Emila Ciorana

This article examines the role of insomnia in Emil Cioran’s philosophy. Taken as a whole, his work appears to be exceptionally significant both from the point of view of anthropology and illness narrative studies. There has never been any doubt that his life and work are dominated by a sense of ennui, loneliness and estrangement. Yet these themes are merely symptoms of more fundamental problems he grappled with, i.e. the grotesque nature everyday life, ecstasy in a life without gods, being an absolute-in-itself and absolute-for itself, etc. This study is focused on insomnia, treated as a primary anthropological category and studied with the help of phenomenological and hermen-eutical methodology. Drawing on, among others, the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and Arthur Schopenhauer, the article formulates a set of substantially new conceptual propositions that offer a new approach to the problematics of Cioran’s work.

The Influence of Food Names with Different Levels of Concreteness on Evaluations of Food Deliciousness and Healthiness.

Recently, many restaurateurs in the food and beverage industry started using vague and abstract names to label their dishes. However, the influence of the concreteness of food names on consumers' evaluations of food remains unclear. Therefore, the present study investigated people's perceptions of food names with different levels of concreteness and their evaluations of food deliciousness and healthiness through two experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the likelihood of names with different levels of concreteness being perceived as foods or dishes through subjective guessing tasks. In line with the hypothesis of mental imagery consistency, the results revealed that individuals were more inclined to perceive high-concreteness names as actual food or dishes than low-concrete names. Experiment 2 further explored the impact of food names with different levels of concreteness on consumers' perceptions and evaluations of food in terms of the direct sensory (deliciousness) and indirect inference (healthiness) dimension. The results showed that in terms of deliciousness, consistent with the feelings-as-information theory, high-concreteness food names were rated significantly higher than low-concreteness ones. In terms of healthiness, consistent with the incongruence theory, low-concreteness food names were rated significantly higher than high-concreteness ones. These results indicated that high-concreteness names were more likely to be perceived as foods or dishes. Moreover, they also had advantages in the direct sensory dimension (deliciousness) but were perceived as less healthy in the indirect inference dimension (healthiness). The present findings provide new evidence for studies related to food naming and the evaluation of deliciousness and healthiness and offer suggestions and strategies for the food and beverage industry in naming foods and dishes.

Laughter in the Courts of Heaven? Chesterton and the Theology of Humor

AbstractThis article relates Chesterton’s theology, and that of other theologians, to existing theories of humor. It asks: With regard to the understanding of humor, what is offered by a theological perspective—especially by Chesterton’s theology—that cannot be supplied by philosophical and psychological theories? The article situates Chesterton’s work in relation to three theories of humor: the superiority theory, the release theory, and the incongruity theory. It then examines two important relationships: first, that between humor, worship, and joy; then, that between humor, cognition, and theology. While focusing on Chesterton’s writing, it also considers relevant aspects of the work of other thinkers, including Ian Ker, Duncan Reyburn, Thomas Aquinas, Søren Kierkegaard, Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Rahner, Peter Berger, Ingvild Sælid Gilhus, Terry Lindvall, and Brian Edgar. The article concludes by suggesting the beginnings of an outline of a theology of humor.

Humor through Exploitation of Meaning Duality in English Memes

There are many mechanisms to integrate humor in English memes. One common method is to make incongruity through two different interpretations. The incongruity can be implemented on different levels, such as lexical, syntactic, and more. However, not everyone can understand these levels; thus, the delivery of humor is not achievable. Therefore, this study aims to analyze meaning duality causing humor in English memes. There were 30 data collected from Pinterest through documentation method. The analysis was conducted with content analysis method through descriptive-mixed approach based on theories of incongruity, ambiguity, context of situation, and generative transformation. The result shows that all types of ambiguity is found and can create meaning duality that causes humor from incongruous finishing text. Lexical ambiguity is the dominant type of meaning duality causing humor. This study also found that one meme can contain two ambiguities. Among the five types of ambiguity, this study found a different characteristic of humor for pragmatic ambiguity. These findings can help unveil how humans play with English to create humor.

Semantic Instability and Philosophical Pessimism: Reading ‘De Profundis’ and <em>Finnegans Wake</em> with Schopenhauer

The following article explores Oscar Wilde’s and James Joyce’s different approaches to language. To offer a new perspective on the authors’ distinct approaches to words and syntax, I incorporate the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer that connects the deficiencies of established languages with the somber realization that the world is beyond understanding. Schopenhauer maintains that despite our deep desire to understand actuality, the only knowledge afforded to humans is mediated by the senses and filtered by subjective perception. The idea of a futile pursuit of knowledge is central to the pessimistic underpinnings of Schopenhauer’s philosophy, offering a lens through which to examine the divergent perspectives on language and human experience in ‘De Profundis’ and in Finnegans Wake. Among the numerous allusions to Wilde in the Wake, one can find direct references to Wilde’s particular way of reading Queensbury’s note by imposing an intelligible word (‘sodomite’) upon a misspelling (‘somdomite’). These allusions provide, on the level of plot and through linguistic experimentations, commentary on the contingency of words and grammatical structures, and the impossibility of absolute and objective knowledge. I conclude that the non-representational features of the Wake emphasizing the material properties of letters more than the denotations of words align with Schopenhauer’s pessimistic vision by hindering the search for knowledge, while offering an aesthetic delight that, in a Schopenhauerian fashion, affords a respite from the sufferings of existence.

Humorous elements in virtual onymic creations

Informal use of anthroponymy is an integral part of the lexical resource of every language. The subject of this article is issues related to media onomastics (the review concerns terminology in internet forums). The aim of the article is the material exemplification of proper names, emphasising their formal features and ways of functioning on a specific communication plane. The task is to show certain tendencies and motivations in the field of creating virtual proper names in terms of their humorous value. In accordance with the adopted research perspective and the purpose of this article, when explaining the process of creating media onyms, reference was made to the mechanisms of name-forming derivation and the theory of humour, in particular the theory of incongruity. The specific communication channel creates new opportunities for language users and is an interesting research field for onomasts because, with the development of computer technology, the terminology began to go beyond the traditionally accepted standards.

Humour in Macanese Creole literature as an identity creator and consolidator

Macanese Creole survives in literary works of the late 19th and 20th centuries. This paper explores comic literature, which constitutes the bulk of the existing corpus in this language, and analyses how this genre relates to the creation and maintenance of a Macanese identity represented as distinct from surrounding historically and demographically significant identities. I resort to the incongruity theory and to some relevant knowledge resources (script opposition, situation, target, and language) of the General Theory of Verbal Humour (Attardo and Raskin, 1991; Attardo 2001; 2008) to analyse how comic literature in Macanese fabricates a fictionalised and performative memory connected to the way in which the Macanese wish to see themselves and be seen by others.

Better Stick to the Status Quo? Eco-Friendly Product Endorsements by (Large) Lifestyle Instagram Influencers as a Curiosity-Inducing Trigger for Young Women

Influencer advertising on Instagram effectively brings products to the attention of young, engaged audiences. Though brands often select Instagram influencers with green expertise for eco-friendly product endorsements, this study argues that generic lifestyle influencers are also suitable endorsers, expanding the reach to wider, more diverse young audiences. Advertising outcomes of a lifestyle influencer’s sponsored Instagram post were compared in three online scenario-based experiments using a 2 (eco-friendly vs. regular lifestyle product) × 2 (small vs. large influencer) between-subjects design. Building on schema incongruity theory, the first two experiments among female Instagram users between 18 and 25 years old confirmed our hypothesis that posts in which female lifestyle influencers promote eco-friendly (vs. regular) lifestyle products evoke more curiosity, which positively affects ad attitude and purchase intention. Conditional indirect effects consistently suggest that the relationship between product type and both ad attitude and purchase intention is only mediated through curiosity for large (vs. small) lifestyle influencers. The findings did not replicate in a third study featuring a male lifestyle influencer among male Instagram users between 18 and 34 years old. Hence, the proposed effects manifested only in the specific demographic of female emerging adults. Potential explanations and implications of these results are discussed.

Unveiling Namibia's Digital Humour

This article explored the humorous and stylistic elements of memes in Namibian online discourse. In the digital age, memes have become an integral part of online communication, offering valuable insights into contemporary language use. Today, memes are widely recognised as short videos or images accompanied by humorous texts, rapidly shared on social media. The incongruity theory of humour helps elucidate the humorous and language elements within memes. The study aimed at analysing selected memes within the Namibian socio-cultural context, shedding light on how language is used to create humorous effects and identifying stylistic qualities. The study employed a desktop methodology, analysing image macros from the Namibian socio-cultural context. 8 memes were sampled from an online platform called Namibian memes01 populated by 139 thousand followers at the time of sampling these memes. The study revealed that memes serve as a form of communication, conveying emotions, thoughts, ideas, and reflecting cultural values. They contribute to language development and have the potential to shape social interactions and shared beliefs. Humour plays a significant role in memes, fostering a sense of community, defusing tension, and promoting positive interactions. The findings highlight the importance of pragmatics and context in interpreting the intended meanings of memes.

GOOD MOANING! THE HUMOROUS ALTERATIONS AND TRANSLATION MECHANISMS IN THE LINES OF ‘ALLo ‘ALLo!’S OFFICER CRABTREE

Officer Crabtree is a memorable character from the British sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo!, char- acterized by his pseudo-English speech. The ways in which his language deviates from the stan- dard English bring about a very humorous effect. This paper introduces the main tenets of the incongruity theory and the main types of wordplay through which Crabtree’s speech is delivered, before defining the relevant morphological and morphosyntactic shifts which dominate his lines in the series. Next, the paper collects all of his original lines from the show, analyzes them for different morphological changes and classifies them accordingly, while the Serbian translation of his lines is also taken into account and analyzed for further morphological and morphosyntactic shifts. Additionally, the direct translation mechanisms from English to Serbian are analyzed and classified as well. The results are first expressed in terms of percentage, and then compared be- tween the two languages, with the aim to discover which of the presented alterations dominate in creating the comical effect for the audience.

Loneliness and Humour in Azi̇z Nesi̇n and Neil Simon: a comparative study

This comparative study explores how Aziz Nesin and Neil Simon, representing different literary canons, treat and reflect upon the incorporation of loneliness and humour in Hadi Öldürsene Canikom! [Let’s Kill Me Honey!] (1970) and The Odd Couple (1965), respectively. Both playwrights examine the loneliness that has caught urbanised and atomised humans in two metropolises: Istanbul and New York. Simon deals with the values, concerns, lifestyles, aspirations and problems of middle-class people in his plays with domestic realism. In contrast, Nesin’s plays explore lower-working-class people’s values, concerns and struggles. Moreover, it focuses on how Nesin and Simon employ humour, as a Lingua Franca of comedy, in their works. The study emphasises the two playwrights’ incorporation of the humour theories of superiority, incongruity and relief into the selected dramatic texts. The interactions between the characters in the two plays are analysed according to the three traditional humour theories by assuming a discourse-analytic approach. The study has exhibited that in Hadi Öldürsene Canikom, all the humour theories have been explicitly observed. The humour largely stems from a case of mistaken identity, which creates incongruity. On the other hand, in The Odd Couple, humour is primarily evoked due to the incongruous characteristics of the roommates abandoned by their wives.

«Бьюти-пространство» Боттичелли, поп-арт и гностики (к вопросу о становлении классического искусства)

<p>The article continues the series of publications by the author on the art of the Renaissance and the work of Botticelli. The author's concept of “classical art” allows us to establish closer connections with subsequent stages of artistic development, as well as with the Early Renaissance. The multi-level structure of Botticelli’s art and the “collage” nature of his works are substantiated. The “universality” of the classics correlates with the gaming strategies of Neoplatonism and Gnosticism. The features that bring the intellectual culture of the Renaissance closer to modern scientific and artistic trends are revealed. New contexts and parallels (Michael Psellus, Honore de Balzac, Arthur Schopenhauer, Alois Riegl, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein) allow us to re-evaluate the transformation of the Neoplatonic tradition in European culture. The author rejects rigid interpretations of Gnosticism and Neoplatonism in connection with the work of Botticelli, preferring an “aesthetic” or “poetic” reading. Within the framework of this essentially psychological approach, the author draws attention to the problem of “presence” (“life-likeness”), characteristic of both medieval and modern art. Social issues of interpretation of classical art are touched upon in the article in connection with elements of elitism in the culture of the Medici circle. The concept of “poetry”, developed by Petrarch and Boccaccio and going back to ancient prototypes, is fully consistent with this type of “court” culture, which played a decisive role in the development of classical art. The "decadence" of the late Quattrocento and the work of Botticelli as its highest expression were thus the result of very complex intellectual strategies that were continued during the High Renaissance and Mannerism. Particular attention in the article is paid to the revision of the usual views on the historiography of the Renaissance, the actualization of classical art historical concepts. The article returns to the problem of the origins of the semiotic concept of art. Pragmatism and the “irrational” concept of art (appealing to the unconscious) turn out to be quite compatible, that has particular theoretical significance for the revaluation of conventional approaches to the classical heritage.</p>

Studi Estetika Teologis Tentang Kematian Dalam Terang Berpikir Arthur Schopenhauer

The people of Kalambe Fort understand that death was caused by sins committed by the first humans who were placed in the Garden of Eden. Sin creates a wall of separation between humans and God, resulting in humans experiencing death. The presence of Christ breaks down the wall of separation between humans and God, namely sin. Through the death and resurrection of Christ as a sign that Christ has defeated death and humans gain the freedom to gain life after death. However, some members of the Fort Kalambe' congregation are still drowning in grief when facing death. The method used in this research is the Qualitative Phenomenology method where the author describes life in the congregation, describing phenomena that occur in the field, using Arthur Schopenhauer's theory which considers aesthetics to be a path to liberation of the will. The results of this study state that the worry about grief events is the congregation's fear of being abandoned by their beloved family. The congregation remains hopeful in the resurrection of Christ, and sorrow can disappear when people can let go of their will not to harbor thoughts and feelings for people who have gone.

Using Humor in the Health/Physical Education Classroom to Create an Enjoyable Learning Environment

The purpose of this article is to show that health and physical education (HPE) teachers who implement humor in the classroom intentionally create a more relaxed classroom environment, build stronger relationships with students, and engage students in the learning process. Humor used as an instructional strategy eases teacher stress and engages students, leading to a comfortable and welcoming classroom climate. Students feel connected, relaxed and calm when humor is implemented in the classroom. Three theories of humor are briefly described, with Incongruity Theory identified as the primary way to conceptualize using humor in the classroom as a teaching practice. Different kinds of humor are introduced that can be implemented in the classroom. This article also identifies the types of humor considered inappropriate for the classroom. Strategies for implementing humor as a pedagogical practice are discussed to help HPE teachers reach the laugh-into-engagement effect.

An Account of Humor in Covid-19 Internet Memes from the Perspective of Cognitive Relevance: A Contrastive Case Study

: In response to Covid-19 pandemic, online humor proliferated across social media platforms as a vital coping mechanism in dealing with the unendurable pandemic-related restrictions through creating a sense of bonding in the face of this calamity regardless of geographical area, nationality, ethnicity, or socio-political affiliations. This research is a cross-lingual case study of internet screenshot memes on Covid-19 in both Arabic and English languages. It explores differences and/or similarities in establishing cognitive relevance and instigating humorous incongruity. The paper uses a three-dimensional theoretical framework that integrates Relevance Theory (RT), as a communication theory in the field of cognitive cyber-pragmatics, with the theories of Intertextuality and Incongruity in humor. Qualitative descriptive analysis revealed a consensus to regard the mass reaction to the pandemic as exaggerated, to use an interplay of intertextuality and incongruity to achieve the rhetorical purpose of critically satirizing such reactions by instigating laughter at one’s silliness. The analysis demonstrated that humorous incongruity springs from the opposing scripts between the content of IMs and the social context surrounding the pandemic as well as a marked similarity in the sources used for establishing cognitive relevance such as background knowledge and logical and lexical information reflecting RT principles.

<u><b>Reconstructing Nigerianisms through Sarcasm and Irony in Selected Nigerian Slangs and Mannerisms</b></u>

Nigerian English, already nativized and domesticated in the socio-political culture of the country, has its distinct lexical features. The study, therefore, investigates the use of irony and sarcasm in selected Nigerian slang and mannerisms using Incongruity Theory to bring to the fore, the distinct Nigerian linguistic features, inherent in them. Neologisms, slang and Nigerianisms were purposively selected through observations in a university environment, churches and public spaces, the internet and the Nigerian music industry; only slang and neologisms that cover the major geo-political zones from socio-political, religious and educational areas are used for the analysis. The study concludes that sarcasm and irony are tools used to construct a distinct Nigerian discursive identity; with irony being used more than sarcasm. Sarcasm and irony are used to achieve intertextuality; non-Nigerians, who are not familiar with the contextual use of these Nigerianisms, might therefore be excluded from the ongoing discourse. Youths, however, also make use of these Nigerianisms to send a subtle message, correct social vices and indirectly document the socio-political events in the country. The research submits that most Nigerian lexical innovations and derivations are humorously construed through irony and sarcasm.