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philosopop! |
In this episode of Philosopop!, we tackle the paradox of horror just in time for Halloween. While I am not sure if it is, strictly speaking, a paradox, the paradox of horror is at least a perplexing philosophical problem. We can identify a set of statements about horror movies where all the statements, individually, seem plausible. However, taken as a set, there is an apparent inconsistency such that they could not all be true. The set of statements is as follows:
These seemingly plausible claims lead to the conclusion that people enjoy what is, by its nature, unenjoyable. The way to solve the problem would be either to show that the inconsistency is only apparent or to show that one of the statements is false. In the show, we consider and debate several possible responses.
- Some people enjoy horror movies.
- What people enjoy in horror movies is the characteristic fear and disgust response they produce.
- Fear and disgust are inherently unenjoyable emotions.
These seemingly plausible claims lead to the conclusion that people enjoy what is, by its nature, unenjoyable. The way to solve the problem would be either to show that the inconsistency is only apparent or to show that one of the statements is false. In the show, we consider and debate several possible responses.