Contextualized irony

In this essay, I would like to contextualize irony in various themes.

First of all, I would like to trace the origins and etymology of irony. The irony originated in the Greek language of Eiron, the Greek loser who outwitted his strong opponent. From Greek it went to Latin Ironia, which means dissimulation or feigned ignorance. From Latin, it was adapted to the English language in the 16th century.

What are the types of irony? The types are verbal (which is different from what is said). An example is: how clean the room is, which means that the room is very dirty. Then comes the dramatic, that is, the audience knows more than the actors. For example, in the play Oedipus Rex, Rex does not know that he married his mother and killed his father. Then again comes the cosmic, where Gods and Goddesses play with the fate of humans in a debilitating way. Then comes the historical, where the result is different from expectations. For example, no one anticipated that Hitler’s rise would lead to the persecution of the Jews. Then there is the Socratic or pretended irony type and it consists of posing rhetorical questions. Some examples are: what is goodness? What is virtue? What is the soul and others?

Now I would like to contextualize the concept and examine it through the lens of literature, culture, and philosophy.

What is the place of irony in literature? Its place in literature is quite possible as conjecture. The place of this trope in literature has been the decline of religion and the growth of science and technology. Greek religion and culture portrayed gods and goddesses as human beings and subject to destiny and far from being perfect. It is these legends through which the literature of irony has taken root. He also grew up with the existential philosophy that examines the search for the problems of the mind and body. The philosophy of nihilism was entirely an incubation of irony. Thus, as Camus says, we have to authenticate our existence to live a free life. What is the postmodern concept of irony? In postmodernism it is a playground of emotions. Oh, anxiety, anguish, pessimism, all are ingredients of the human personality. The irony becomes the architect of the disintegration of the personality.

What is your place in the culture? It occupies a primordial space in the literature of culture. There is the obsession of the person to be repeatedly human. The development of science and technology has changed the concept of human worth and dignity. The joy of living: the romanticization of life becomes a prisoner of the vestiges of a culture that wants to take advantage of humans. As a term it is marked by the troubled other, the troubled self, phobia and decadence and began to question what is valued in the culture.

What value does it have in Philosophy? It became a scale to weigh the value of existence and essence. The questions of being and becoming became conjectural possibilities. Ambitious and noble is the table of irony on the knowledge of philosophy.