Thank you for your kind words. I’m really pleased that you commented on this. It is something that I think about quite often. The last thing I ever want to do is play horrible crimes for laughs. On the other hand, this Substack is not intended to be academic, either. I hope it’s sometimes entertaining. The Sunday e-mail is meant to be relatively light, anyway. Also, I have the recurrent problem that I am almost unable to write more than about 1000 words without a joke somewhere…
These are terrific observations! They put me in mind of an essay I read recently by D H Mellor. It had the uninspiring title, Analytic Philosophy', but dealt in part with the thought that a really first-rate philosopher requires a sense of humour. The reason, Mellor argued, was that it is vital for a philosopher to be able to recognise the absurd. Without that ability, they can easily be drawn into absurdity themselves.
You reminded me that I had intended to write something for Crime & Psychology about humour and its uses. It's an odd topic to choose, perhaps, but perhaps absurdity is the point. I may start hashing it out this week.
I love the idea of the paper you mention, about geographical profiling and Sherlock Holmes! If you happen to come across it again, please send me a link. I'd be keen to read it.
That's great, thank you. I'll look it up. Yes, I see exactly what you mean from the abstract. Talking the piece down even though it must have had some pretty solid qualities in order to find a publisher in the first place... It's kind of you to alert me to that.
Thank you for your kind words. I’m really pleased that you commented on this. It is something that I think about quite often. The last thing I ever want to do is play horrible crimes for laughs. On the other hand, this Substack is not intended to be academic, either. I hope it’s sometimes entertaining. The Sunday e-mail is meant to be relatively light, anyway. Also, I have the recurrent problem that I am almost unable to write more than about 1000 words without a joke somewhere…
These are terrific observations! They put me in mind of an essay I read recently by D H Mellor. It had the uninspiring title, Analytic Philosophy', but dealt in part with the thought that a really first-rate philosopher requires a sense of humour. The reason, Mellor argued, was that it is vital for a philosopher to be able to recognise the absurd. Without that ability, they can easily be drawn into absurdity themselves.
You reminded me that I had intended to write something for Crime & Psychology about humour and its uses. It's an odd topic to choose, perhaps, but perhaps absurdity is the point. I may start hashing it out this week.
I love the idea of the paper you mention, about geographical profiling and Sherlock Holmes! If you happen to come across it again, please send me a link. I'd be keen to read it.
That's great, thank you. I'll look it up. Yes, I see exactly what you mean from the abstract. Talking the piece down even though it must have had some pretty solid qualities in order to find a publisher in the first place... It's kind of you to alert me to that.