The persuasive function of humor in scientific discourse: the case study of “Against ‘Measurement’” by J.S. Bell

Abstract The science of humor in persuasion has been examined in many fields, including business, the US Supreme court, and advertising. However, humor is rarely associated with scientific discourse, a discourse which aims to be persuasive and is traditionally viewed as objective. Nonetheless, humor can be found in informal exchanges in popularized science and even more formal settings such as in academic publications. Specifically, this article explores the understudied rhetorical and heuristic functions of humor in the scientific debate about the foundations of quantum mechanics, i.e., the ontological narrative about the nature of the physical reality, a subject typically associated with logos based arguments. We demonstrate our analysis on the case study of a leading physicist, John S. Bell, specifically his famous academic article “Against ’Measurement’” (1990) in which the use of humor is ubiquitous. We apply Olbrechts-Tyteca’s approach to the comic dimensions of disocurse and French discourse analyst Charaudeau’s approach to humor as a discursive strategy to several humorous acts in Bell’s article and show how and why humor is part of the persuasive strategy of his discourse. We argue that humorous processes based on irony, paradox, and parody (among others) are used to disqualify tenets of “orthodox” quantum mechanics and overcome a taboo around debating the foundations of quantum mechanics, thereby fostering scientific progress.