Congratulations go out to Associate Professor Claire Horisk for her nomination of 'Dangerous Jokes: How Racism and Sexism Weaponize Humor' for the American Philosophical Association's 2024 Joseph B. Glitter Award! 

The Joseph B. Gittler Award is given for an outstanding scholarly contribution in the field of the philosophy of one or more of the social sciences.  The winner will be announced at the APA's annual prize reception in mid-December. We are thrilled about this acknowledgement of Dr. Horisk's great work!

If you're interested in finding out more about 'Dangerous Jokes', MU is currently enrolling for PHIL 2005 for Fall 2024. It will explore questions like What is different or special about joking? And if jokes about lawyers and politicians are morally acceptable, then what is wrong with joking about race or gender? Furthermore, if we may joke about a politician's shirts, may we joke about his weight? Dr. Horisk will draw on her expertise in philosophy of language and on evidence from other disciplines to explain how the element of humor---so often used as a defense---makes jokes more potent than regular speech in communicating prejudice and reinforcing social hierarchies. She will address the morality of telling, being amused by, and laughing at, derogatory jokes, as well as the morality of listening to demeaning speech. Students in the course will explore Horisk’s thesis that "it's just a joke" is not an excuse for demeaning humor. 

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