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Seriousness (noun; adjective: ''serious'') is an attitude of
gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
, solemnity, persistence, and earnestness toward something considered to be of importance. Some notable philosophers and commentators have criticised excessive seriousness, while others have praised it.''The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings'', Perry Miller, Thomas Herbert Johnson, p. 59

/ref>''"Spirit of Seriousness"'', The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy, NICHOLAS BUNNIN and JIYUAN YU, editors

/ref>''Being and Nothingness'', Jean-Paul Sartre''Joseph Adler on Seriousness'', Dictionary Quotes.com, ww.dictionary-quotes.com/we-are-growing-serious-and-let-me-tell-you- thats-the-next-step-to-being-dull-addison-joseph//ref>''"High Seriousness"'', ''Historicism Once More: Problems and Occasions for the American Scholar'', Novel: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring, 1971), pp. 283–286, Roy Harvey Pearce, George Levine

/ref> Seriousness is often contrasted with
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
, as in the
seriocomedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
.''Joel Chaston – Baum, Bakhtin, SAMMY and Broadway: A Centennial Look at the Carnival of Oz'', The Lion and the Unicorn – Volume 25, Number 1, January 2001, pp. 128–149, Joel D. Chaston

/ref> In the theory of humor, one must have a sense of humor and a
sense of seriousness Seriousness (noun; adjective: ''serious'') is an attitude of gravity, solemnity, persistence, and earnestness toward something considered to be of importance. Some notable philosophers and commentators have criticised excessive seriousness, while ...
to distinguish what is supposed to be taken
literally ''Literally'' is an English adverb. It has been controversially used as an intensifier for figurative statements. History The first known use of the word ''literally'' was in the 15th century, or the 1530s, when it was used in the sense of "in ...
or not, or of being important or not. Otherwise, it may also be contrasted with a sense of play. How children learn a
sense of seriousness Seriousness (noun; adjective: ''serious'') is an attitude of gravity, solemnity, persistence, and earnestness toward something considered to be of importance. Some notable philosophers and commentators have criticised excessive seriousness, while ...
to form values and differentiate between the serious and that which is not is studied in
developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult developme ...
and
educational psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in ...
.''Variation in Seriousness of Transgressions and Children's Moral and Conventional Concepts'', Developmental Psychology Volume 24, Issue 3, May 1988, Pages 352–357, Marie S. Tisak, Elliot Turiel There is a distinction between the degree of seriousness of various crimes in sentencing under the
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
, and also in
law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
.''Offense Seriousness Scaling: An Alternative to Scenario Methods'', Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Volume 9, Number 3, 309–322, James P. Lynch and Mona J. E. Danner

/ref> There is a positive correlation with the degree of seriousness of a crime and viewer ratings of news coverage.''News Media Use and Public Perceptions of Crime Seriousness'', Canadian Journal of Criminology 3 (1988), Robert J. Gebotys, Julia V. Roberts, Bikram DasGupta What is or is not considered serious varies widely with different cultures.''Cultural Relativism and Comparative Criminology'', Crime, Law and Social Change, Volume 7, Number 4, pp. 371–391, Piers Beirne Sometimes fields studying degrees of seriousness overlap, such as developmental psychology studies of development of the sense of degrees of seriousness as it relates to transgressions, which has overlap with criminology and the seriousness of crimes.


Philosophical attitudes toward seriousness


Praise for "high seriousness" in scholarship and poetry

Some use "seriousness" as a term of praise for scholarship or in literary review. 19th century
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
,
cultural critic A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions of ...
, and
literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...
,
Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...
said that the most important criteria used to judge the value of a poem were "high truth" and "high seriousness".


Philosophical disdain for seriousness

Many have expressed an attitude of disdain toward taking things too seriously, as opposed to viewing things with an attitude of humor. Poet, playwright, and philosopher
Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richar ...
said that being serious is dull, "we are growing serious, and let me tell you, that's the next step to being dull." Political satirist
P.J. O'Rourke Patrick Jake O'Rourke (November 14, 1947 – February 15, 2022) was an American libertarian political satirist and journalist. O'Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for ''T ...
said that "Seriousness is stupidity sent to college."
Epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mill ...
ist, poet, and playwright
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
said that "life is too important to be taken seriously." In a play on words, novelist Samuel Butler indicated that the ''central serious conviction in life'' is that nothing should be taken with too much seriousness, "the one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously." In some
ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
or
puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
religious sects, an attitude of seriousness is always to be taken, and solemnity,
sobriety Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels or effects from alcohol or drugs. Sobriety is also considered to be the natural state of a human being at birth. A person in a state of sobriety is considered sober. Organization ...
, and puritanism with its hostility to social pleasures and indulgences are the only acceptable attitudes.
Perry Miller Perry Gilbert Eddy Miller (February 25, 1905 – December 9, 1963) was an American intellectual historian and a co-founder of the field of American Studies. Miller specialized in the history of early America, and took an active role in a revi ...
, "the master of American intellectual history", wrote of excessive seriousness of the
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
s, "simple humanity cries at last for some relief from the interminable high seriousness of the Puritan code."


The "spirit of seriousness" in existential philosophy

Existentialist philosopher
Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...
called the "spirit of seriousness’’ the belief that there is an objective and independent goodness in things for people to discover, and that this belief leads to
bad faith Bad faith (Latin: ''mala fides'') is a sustained form of deception which consists of entertaining or pretending to entertain one set of feelings while acting as if influenced by another."of two hearts ... a sustained form of deception which ...
. He argued that people forget that values are not absolute, but are contingent and subjectively determined. In Sartre’s words, "the spirit of seriousness has two characteristics: it considers values as transcendent ‘' givens’’, independent of human subjectivity, and it transfers the quality of ‘desirable’ from the
ontological In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exi ...
structure of things to their simple material constitution."


Seriousness and comedy

Seriousness is sometimes contrasted with the comical in
humor Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in ...
. In the
performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...
and
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
, the
seriocomedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
is a
genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...
which blends seriousness with the comical,
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
with
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
.


Measurement and detection


Detecting presence and absence of seriousness in humor

In the
theory of humor There are many theories of humor which attempt to explain what humor is, what social functions it serves, and what would be considered humorous. Among the prevailing types of theories that attempt to account for the existence of humor, there are ...
, one must have a sense of humor and a sense of seriousness to distinguish what is supposed to be taken literally or not. An even more keen sense is needed when humor is used to make a serious point. Psychologists have studied how humor is intended to be taken as having seriousness, as when court jesters used humor to convey serious information.''Negotiating the Serious Import of Humor'', Sociometry, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1969), pp. 169–181, Joan P. Emerson Conversely, when humor is not intended to be taken seriously, bad taste in humor may cross a line after which it is taken seriously, though not intended.


Detecting degree of seriousness in developmental psychology

In
Developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult developme ...
and
educational psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in ...
, seriousness is studied as it relates to how children develop an ability to distinguish levels of seriousness as it relates to transgressions and expenditure of time; for example, a child must learn to distinguish between levels of seriousness in admonitions such as between "don't fidget" and "don't forget to look both ways when crossing the street", which have the same linguistic and normative structure, but different levels of seriousness.''"regarding the seriousness... their ability to understand the reality-fantasy distinction"'', ''Preschoolers' Moral Judgments: Distinctions Between Realistic and Cartoon-Fantasy Transgressions'', Proceedings of the 2004 conference on Interaction design and children: building a community, 2004, Kristen M. Peters, Fran C. Blumberg


Measuring degree of seriousness in crime

The degree of seriousness of crimes is an important factor relating to crime. One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. A
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that res ...
is generally considered to be a crime of "high seriousness", while a
misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
is not. In
criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...
the degree of seriousness is considered when meting out punishment to fit the crime, and in considering to what extent overcrowded prison facilities will be used. Seriousness of a crime is a major factor in considerations of the allocation of scarce
law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
funds. The meaning and measurement of seriousness is a major concern in
public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...
considerations. A quantitative scoring system called the "seriousness score" has been developed for use in allocating law enforcement resources and sentencing. As to England and Wales, see section 143 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.


Medical triage

Degrees of seriousness are used in medicine to make decisions about care. Seriousness is related to the effects of delaying or not having medical care. In an emergency hospital, the
triage In medicine, triage () is a practice invoked when acute care cannot be provided for lack of resources. The process rations care towards those who are most in need of immediate care, and who benefit most from it. More generally it refers to prio ...
nurse must evaluate levels of seriousness of medical emergencies and rank them to determine order of care. Seriousness of illness is used to make decisions as to whether to perform invasive procedures such as surgery.


Measuring crime seriousness in the media

There is a
positive correlation In statistics, correlation or dependence is any statistical relationship, whether causal or not, between two random variables or bivariate data. Although in the broadest sense, "correlation" may indicate any type of association, in statistics ...
between the degree of seriousness of a crime and viewer ratings of news coverage.


Cultural variation in measurement and detection

What is considered serious varies widely across cultures and is studied in
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
,
cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portma ...
, and
criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and s ...
; being of the wrong religious faith may be considered a serious crime in some cultures; smoking marijuana may be a serious crime in some cultures and not others; homosexuality a serious crime in some cultures; and prostitution is a serious crime in some cultures. Perception of seriousness is measured in assessing varying cultural perceptions on health risks.''Explaining Risk Perception: An Evaluation of the Psychometric Paradigm in Risk Perception Research'', Lennart Sjöberg, Bjørg-Elin Moen, Torbjørn Rundmo

/ref>


References

{{reflist Criminal law legal terminology Emotions Humour Philosophy of life