Francis Berger
  • Blog
  • My Work

Facetiousness is Not Wit, Nor Is It a Virtue

8/14/2019

4 Comments

 
Most people define wit as the natural aptitude for employing words and ideas in a quick and inventive manner for humorous effect. Though accurate, this is only a partial definition of wit because it omits the nature of the humor created, which is crucial to understanding the difference between wit and facetiousness, a distinction that has all but disappeared in our contemporary world.

Aristotle considered wit a virtue, but took great pains delineating the boundaries of wit, which he separated from what he termed buffoonery and boorishness. In his Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle noted wit arises from a state of relaxation and leisure – which he considered necessary elements of life – and that its chief aim was to provide tasteful amusement. Adhering to his overall philosophy of remaining within the golden mean, Aristotle defined the ideal form of wit as that which avoids vulgar buffoonery (carrying humor to excess and striving at humor at all costs) and boorishness (the inability to create or accept humor). In Aristotle’s mind, true wit was a matter of good-breeding, self-control, and taste.

My notion of wit aligns with Aristotle’s idea for the most part. For me, true wit is humor that brings joy. It is light and sweet; it reveals, exposes, or expands a simple truth, thereby expanding our understanding of the world and ourselves. It is a clever play on words, but more than that, it is a clever play on words that makes us pause with delight and say, “Hey, I never thought of that before” or “I never looked at it that way before.” Also, in the most ideal sense, true wit rests upon solid metaphysical assumptions about Reality and Creation, assumptions that instantly and intuitively mark the boundaries of what Aristotle defined as the limits of taste and tact. In my opinion, the best kind of wit draws its inspiration from love, more specifically Christian love.

Having written the above, I believe Aristotle’s concept of the employing the golden mean to wit – of being tactful and ready-witted – has been rendered practically impossible in our contemporary world, and if it has not been rendered impossible, being tactful and ready witted today means something altogether different from what Aristotle intended. Most of this stems from the contemporary West’s flawed, dying, or non-existent metaphysical assumptions, though much could also be attributed to what is current notions of being “well-bred”, to use Aristotle’s phrase. Encountering true wit – wit that exudes intelligence, shrewdness, insight, and understanding, wit that brings delight and joy, wit based in love and faith –is increasingly rare today. What we tend to encounter instead are the extremes Aristotle mentions – buffoonery and boorishness. Today, the former is passed as off as wit, while the latter functions to exclude true wit from the public sphere altogether.

Contemporary vulgar buffoonery resides primarily in facetiousness, which is erroneously equated with wittiness. In my mind the key difference between wittiness and facetiousness is motivation. One displays wit when one treats a serious issue in a deliberately appropriate way through humor or clever remark. Facetiousness, on the other hand, treats serious issues in a deliberately inappropriate way through humor and clever remarks. In other words, a witty person can be genuinely funny or insightful about a serious topic while a facetious person can only be inappropriately funny and, usually, rather witless about a serious topic.
​
In my opinion, the chief cause of this may be rooted in metaphysics. Facetiousness has effectively replaced wit in the West because the West has turned its back on meaning, logic, sense, reason, and Reality and has instead embraced illogic, nonsense, un-reason, and Absurdity (or Virtuality). Such conditions lead to relativism and meaninglessness, both of which challenge the seriousness of any issue. Ultimately, this state of mind demands serious issues be treated inappropriately. Facetiousness is the hallmark of those for whom life is nothing more than a massive cosmic joke. Very little can be taken seriously when this perspective is adopted, and everything must, by default, be approached with flippancy and frivolity. Wit is reduced to jeers and sneers rarely rising above hostile sarcasm, vitriolic irony, or open contempt at the ridiculousness of veritably serious issues. In the end, this is all supported by a solid foundation of scorn and derision, perhaps even hatred.

Contemporary boorishness tends to appreciate and encourage vulgar buffoonery, but it mostly challenges and restricts real wit, which is regarded as offensive and in bad taste. The simple truths real wit reveals and expands are anathema to the boorish. Unlike buffoons, boors are incapable of making jokes, and even more incapable of taking them. Contemporary boors rarely experience relaxation or leisure. They are forever tense and wound-up. In keeping with the inversion inherent in the West, contemporary boors support attacks against real serious issues, but will not tolerate any jests against their own inverted “serious” issues. Within this framework, meaning, logic, and reason are open targets, while absurdity, nonsense, and stupidity are heavily protected.

To sum up, much of what accounts for wit today is really nothing more than facetiousness. The best kind of wit displays intelligence, shrewdness, insight and understanding all emanating from an honest recognition of Reality. True wit provides joy and delight, but more than that it reveals and expands truth in a playful and amusing way and helps increase our understanding of the world and ourselves. Conversely, facetiousness strives to ridicule and mock truth. Facetiousness also works to support lies. Facetious people refuse to treat serious issues appropriately because they cannot accept the truths serious issues contain. At its core, facetiousness is a thin veil for nihilism – the outright rejection of all moral and religious principles and the belief that life is essentially meaningless.

Aristotle’s advice to be tactful and maintain the golden mean in matters of wit are essentially meaningless within the context of our contemporary milieu because most attempts to do so would immediately be regarded as offensive or in bad taste. In light of this, Aristotle’s notions about the golden mean must be discarded and replaced instead wit based on proper metaphysical assumptions. Though this will be considered untactful and ill-bred by most contemporary people, to do otherwise would be to render oneself a buffoon or a boor.

​It goes without saying that true wit will be mocked, ridiculed, and misunderstood if employed in the wrong circles. Nevertheless, I believe true wit is needed in life. It serves a valuable purpose. Thus, facetiousness should be avoided and the sharing of true wit must be restricted to certain individuals and groups of people, more specifically, those whose metaphysical assumptions align with Reality. To do otherwise is pointless today – not only would it dispel any sense of leisure and amusement, but the act would be akin to casting pearls before swine. 
4 Comments
William James Tychonievich link
8/14/2019 19:35:29

The kind of "boorishness" you describe here reminds me of one of my favorite jokes:

Q: How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?

A: That's not funny!

Reply
Francis Berger
8/14/2019 21:02:38

@ Wm - That's a good one!

Reply
bruce charlton
8/15/2019 12:31:01

Facetiousness is one of the things that annoys me most about British life. Some (especially upper middle- and upper- class) people get through their whole lives without ever dropping a kind of 'ironic' stance.

CS Lewis commented on this trait in Screwtape (among The Patient's 'smart' friends) - they don't make jokes but talk always as if a joke has been made. Certainly, it is a path to Hell.

And the working classes (and those who ape them) in some regions are always maintaining a relentless jokiness - for example Cockneys and Glasgwegians are prone; which is amusing at first, but is ultimately aggressive, and becomes wearing.

Reply
Francis Berger
8/15/2019 13:49:40

@ Bruce - " . . .they don't make jokes but talk always as if a joke has been made." That's terrific. I did not consider Screwtape when I wrote this post. Thanks for reminding me of that part.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Synlogos ✞ Aggregator
    New World Island  
    New World Island YouTube
    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Adam Piggott
    Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    Junior Ganymede

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Picture
    A free PDF is also available in My Work. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.