“Housing Mirth”

Talk Description: Like language and morality, humor is a species universal with evolutionary origins that displays systematic cultural variation. Unlike other distinctively human evaluative capacities, however, humor has been neglected by philosophers and cognitive scientists. Housing Mirth diagnoses some historical reasons behind this pattern of neglect, articulates a methodological framework for humor studies designed to address existing problems in the field, and elaborates a new theory of humor along the way. According to the theory, many puzzling features of humorous phenomena are readily understood as side-effects of the interaction between a cognitive system designed to generate predictions about what is likely to happen in the world, and an emotional system designed to motivate quick action in instances where those predictions fail.

Bio: Lauren Olin’s research is located squarely in the philosophy of cognitive science, though many of the questions she engages may readily be called ethical or epistemological. Her current interests involve both theoretical and empirical research on patterns of evaluative judgment, psychopathology, and epistemic dispositions. She has authored or co-authored papers for journals such as Philosophical Studies, Synthese, Transcultural Psychiatry, and Philosophy Compass. Lauren earned her BA in Philosophy from McGill University in Montreal, and her MA and PhD from the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology program at Washington University in St. Louis

Attendance is free, no RSVP is required. Light refreshments will be served.