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Why Irony Can Save Us
Irony’s Ability to Bridge Morality and Language
The following is a “cocktail napkin.” This means that it’s a relatively hastily written piece, usually written in one sitting, as I think through ideas and attempt to connect them. I publish them here, in my publication “Cocktail Napkins,” to distinguish them from my more “permanent” writing that I publish. Please keep this in mind when reading, and please offer your comments, criticisms, and insights on these ideas so that I may incorporate them as I explore them further. Enjoy!
How do we bride the gap between law and morality? Or even between morality and language? One answer is irony. Why irony? Well, to answer this, we must understand what we mean by irony. Kierkegaard defined it as a “singularly indirect mode of communication, positing surreptitious questions and expressing what cannot be said directly.”¹ Or, in a more socratic fashion, it is “that figure of speech … in which something contrary to what is said is to be understood.”² For example, when a direct answer to a child’s question would be cruel or over-exposing to their innocent minds. We might also utter something “deliberately naive or stupid to show how you are in the know.”³
These definitions of irony might sound unfamiliar to you, or even just a bit too specific or narrow. Irony, after all, has always been…
