Can I read William B. Irvine - A Slap in the Face: Why Insults Hurt on EtoBox?

William B. Irvine - A Slap in the Face: Why Insults Hurt by William Braxton Irvine is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is William B. Irvine - A Slap in the Face: Why Insults Hurt about?

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 t

Author

William Braxton Irvine

Publisher

IRL Press at Oxford University Press

Published

2013

Language

EN

ISBN

9780190665043

Subjects

Philosophy, History, Psychology

Rating

3.63 / 5 (132 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14