as having to do with invalid reasoning, while ridiculousness has to do with laughter, superiority, and deformity. Theater of the Absurd The Theater of the Absurd was a surrealist movement demonstrating motifs of absurdism. Theology Absurdity is cited as a basis for some theological reasoning about the formation of belief and faith, such as in fideism, an epistemological theory that reason and faith may be hostile to each other. The statement "Credo quia absurdum" ("I believe because it is absurd") is attributed to Tertullian from De Carne Christi, as translated by philosopher Voltaire. According to the New Advent Church, what Tertullian said in DCC 5 was "[...] the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed, because it is absurd." In the 15th century, the Spanish theologian Tostatus used what he thought was a reduction to absurdity arguing against a spherical earth using dogma, claiming that a spherical earth would imply the existence of antipodes. He argued that this would be impossible since it would require either that Christ has appeared twice or that the inhabitants of the antipodes would be forever damned, which he claimed was an absurdity. Absurdity can refer to any strict religious dogma that pushes something to the point of violating common sense. For example, inflexible religious dictates are sometimes termed pharisaism, referring to unreasonable emphasis on observing exact words or rules, rather than the intent or spirit. Andrew Willet grouped absurdities with "flat contradictions to scripture" and "heresies". Attitudes towards absurdity Psychology Psychologists study how humans adapt to constant absurdities in life. In advertising, the presence or absence of an absurd image was found to moderate negative attitudes toward products and increase product recognition. Humor Absurdity is used in humor to make people laugh or to make a sophisticated point. One example is Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", a poem of nonsense verse, originally featured as a part of his absurdist novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872). Carroll was a logician and parodied logic using illogic and inverting logical methods. Argentine novelist Jorge Luis Borges used absurdities in his short stories to make points. Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is considered absurdist by some. Absurdity in various disciplines Legal The absurdity doctrine is a legal theory in American courts. One type of absurdity, known as the "scrivener's error", occurs when simple textual correction is needed to amend an obvious clerical