Cosmic Irony

Sophia_ · #1 12-30-2007, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). Irony may also arise from a discordance between acts and results, especially if it is striking, and seen by an outside audience.

Irony is understood as an aesthetic evaluation by an audience, which relies on a sharp discordance between the real and the ideal, and which is variously applied to texts, speech, events, acts, and even fashion. All the different senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity, or a gap between an understanding of reality, or expectation of a reality, and what actually happens.

Irony threatens authoritative models of discourse by "removing the semantic security of ‘one signifier : one signified’";[1][2] irony has some of its foundation in the onlooker’s perception of paradox which arises from insoluble problems.

The connection between irony and humour is somewhat revealed when an expected result of an action does not occur but is instead a surprise that startles us into laughter. However, not all irony is humorous: “grim irony” and “stark irony” are familiar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wordnet.com

socratic irony

noun
admission of your own ignorance and willingness to learn while exposing someone's inconsistencies by close questioning

Quote:

Originally Posted by reference.com

Cosmic or philisophical Irony
One of the most complex forms of literary expression, more a habit of mind than a rhetorical figure, requiring continual alertness on the part of the reader for proper interpretation. Irony is not simply saying one thing and implying the opposite; the name for this crude form is sarcasm. Irony invites the reader to consider several shades of meaning simultaneously, some of which are elided or cancelled out in the process. The meaning of irony lies precisely in the tension between single statement and multiple meaning. It was suggested by Kierkegaard that the finest irony is undecipherable as such - which comes close to the position of the Romantic ironist, who writes with a keen sense of the double-sidedness of truth and the irreducible ambiguity of language itself. This conception is also referred to as cosmic or philosophical irony.

Examples:

At the age of 23, basketball star "Pistol" Pete Maravich told a Pennsylvania reporter, "I don't want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack when I'm 40."[3] In 1988 he collapsed and died of a heart attack at age 40, after playing 10 NBA seasons.

Jim Fixx, who did much to popularize jogging as a form of healthy exercise in his 1977 book "The Complete Book of Running", died at the age of 52 of a heart attack while out jogging.

Please add or comment.

Ophiel Ophiuci · #2 12-30-2007, 05:06 PM

Same as synchronicity: there's way less irony in the world than there are totally meaningless coincidences. Pete Maravich probably said a whole lot of things.

Sophia_ · #3 12-30-2007, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ophiel Ophiuci

Same as synchronicity: there's way less irony in the world than there are totally meaningless coincidences. Pete Maravich probably said a whole lot of things.

There is a much bigger cosmic irony going on in my life: last month my wife was intending to buy a book for me from a thriftstore 300 miles away when we were there last month, but didn't. I went with her and my daughter after Christmas to the same store, not knowing anything about the book, and after entering the store I went right to the book section and found the same book. She later told me her side of the story. You might, or might not, appreciate that I have never read the author before, and really knew very little of the subject(person) until yesterday. The old book "Plato:The Apology, Phaedo and Crito of Plato" (The Harvard Classics, copyright 1909,1937).

My wife gets the irony and the synchronicity, both. I read the beginning pages to her last night and she had some very interesting things to discuss with me.

I guess irony and synchronicity can come about by cosmic forces. Rancheria enjoys to ridicule the topic, so I thought it coincidental that I could share this with you today. You may find nothing beyond coincidence, and that is okay; at least it gives you something additional for ammunition.

Ophiel Ophiuci · #4 12-30-2007, 05:36 PM

I don't ridicule the idea. I just don't understand why you need to label it "cosmic". How is "cosmic irony" any different from regular irony?

Sophia_ · #5 12-30-2007, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ophiel Ophiuci

I don't ridicule the idea. I just don't understand why you need to label it "cosmic". How is "cosmic irony" any different from regular irony?

Wikipedia broke it down into multiple types; I just wanted to discuss irony and tell you about my current series of events. I wondered if people around here see the bigger picture that was revealed to me yesterday via the reading of "The Apology of Socrates".

Wikipedia refers to it as "Irony of Fate(cosmic irony)"