more from this thinker
|
more from this text
Single Idea 12169
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 8. Humour
]
Full Idea
Man is the only animal that laughs, so a starting point for all enquiries into laughter must be the hypothesis that it is an attribute of reason (though that gets us no further than our definition of reason).
Gist of Idea
Since only men laugh, it seems to be an attribute of reason
Source
Roger Scruton (Laughter [1982], §1)
Book Ref
Scruton,Roger: 'The Aesthetic Understanding' [Methuen 1983], p.152
A Reaction
I would be inclined to say that both our capacity for reason and our capacity for laughter (and, indeed, our capacity for language) are a consequence of our evolved capacity for meta-thought.
The
15 ideas
with the same theme
[explaining the nature and sources of what is funny]:
|
7494
|
Laughter is mad; of mirth, what doeth it?
[Anon (Ecc)]
|
|
8767
|
Sorrow is better than laughter
[Anon (Ecc)]
|
|
6211
|
Laughter is a sudden glory in realising the infirmity of others, or our own formerly
[Hobbes]
|
|
12171
|
Absurdity is incongruity between correct and false points of view
[Schopenhauer]
|
|
22047
|
Wherever there is painless contradiction there is also comedy
[Kierkegaard]
|
|
14833
|
Comedy is a transition from fear to exuberance
[Nietzsche]
|
|
18303
|
Reject wisdom that lacks laughter
[Nietzsche]
|
|
12318
|
The female body, when taken in its entirety, is the Phallus itself
[Badiou]
|
|
12169
|
Since only men laugh, it seems to be an attribute of reason
[Scruton]
|
|
12170
|
Amusement rests on superiority, or relief, or incongruity
[Scruton]
|
|
12172
|
Objects of amusement do not have to be real
[Scruton]
|
|
12173
|
The central object of amusement is the human
[Scruton]
|
|
6848
|
Humour is practically enacted philosophy
[Critchley]
|
|
6847
|
Humour can give a phenomenological account of existence, and point to change
[Critchley]
|
|
22701
|
Jokes can sometimes be funny because they are offensive
[Jacobson,D]
|