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Why Insults Hurt--And Why They Shouldn't
Oxford University Press
March 2013
On Sale: March 1, 2013
264 pages
ISBN: 0199934452
EAN: 9780199934454
Kindle: B00AZXB9L6
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
Insults are part of the fabric of daily life. But why do we
insult each other? Why do insults cause us such pain? Can we
do anything to prevent or lessen this pain? Most
importantly, how can we overcome our inclination to insult
others?
In A Slap in the Face, William
Irvine undertakes a wide-ranging investigation of insults,
their history, the role they play in social relationships,
and the science behind them. He examines not just memorable
zingers, such as Elizabeth Bowen's description of Aldous
Huxley as "The stupid person's idea of a clever person," but
subtle insults as well, such as when someone insults us by
reporting the insulting things others have said about us: "I
never read bad reviews about myself," wrote entertainer
Oscar Levant, "because my best friends invariably tell me
about them." Irvine also considers the role insults play in
our society: they can be used to cement relations, as when a
woman playfully teases her husband, or to enforce a social
hierarchy, as when a boss publicly berates an employee. He
goes on to investigate the many ways society has tried to
deal with insults-by adopting codes of politeness, for
example, and outlawing hate speech-but concludes that the
best way to deal with insults is to immunize ourselves
against them: We need to transform ourselves in the manner
recommended by Stoic philosophers. We should, more
precisely, become insult pacifists, trying hard not to
insult others and laughing off their attempts to insult
us.
A rousing follow-up to A Guide to the Good
Life, A Slap in the Face will interest anyone who's
ever delivered an insult or felt the sting of one--in other
words, everyone.
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