You've Got To Be Kidding!: How Jokes Can Help You Think

by John Capps, Donald Capps

You've Got to Be Kidding!: How Jokes Can Help You Think is a thoughtful and accessible analysis of the ways in which jokes illustrate how we think critically, and how the thinking process goes awry in everyday human situations.

-Uses jokes to illustrate the various mistakes or fallacies that are typically identified and discussed in courses on critical reasoning

-Provides an effective way to learn critical thinking skills since jokes often describe real-life situations where it really matters whether a person thinks well or not

-Demonstrates how philosophy is actually very practical and clearly related to real- life human experiences

-Explains how developing good reasoning habits can make a real difference in all aspects of one's life

Genres: Humor, Philosophy, Psychology

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Mangzilla]

Very funny. A little light on philosophical depth, OK.

[Liz]

"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." -E.B. White

[Steve]

It's ok. But the jokes' relationship to what is being exemplified is often tenuous and forced potentially leading to greater confusion than clarity. Some of the explanations of various fallacies are quite good but, ironically, I wouldn't recommend this book as an introduction to good thinking.