Wittgenstein and Jokes
I recently watched an interview with the writer David Foster Wallace, and in it he stated that Wittgenstein believed that the most serious and profound questions and issues could be discussed only in the form of jokes.
I also know that one of Wittgenstein's most famous ideas/quotes is xe2x80x9cA serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes."
xe2x80x9cThe things about German food is that no matter how much you eat, an hour later youxe2x80x99re hungry for power.xe2x80x9d This joke is largely unavailable to anyone who doesnxe2x80x99t know the old chestnut about Chinese food invariably leaving one hungry soon after eating, whether one believes that about Chinese food or not. But then one must also know the commonplace about Germans that they long to control others, to have and to wield power. Now it makes some difference whether one only knows this commonplace, or whether or knows it and believes it to be true. And finally, it matters whether one has negative feelings about Germans on that count, or doesnxe2x80x99t. If it offends one to have Germans represented in this way, then the amusement may be lost altogether. (Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters, University of Chicago Press, 1999, pp. 21-22).