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Single Idea 12171

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 8. Humour ]

Full Idea

The more correct the subsumption of objects from one point of view, and the greater and more glaring the incongruity from another point of view, the greater is the ludicrous effect which is produced by this contrast.

Gist of Idea

Absurdity is incongruity between correct and false points of view

Source

Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Idea [1819], I 013), quoted by Roger Scruton - Laughter §5

Book Ref

Scruton,Roger: 'The Aesthetic Understanding' [Methuen 1983], p.156

A Reaction

This accounts for ludicrous humour, but there seem to be plenty of other types. Exceptional stupidity is usually amusing without necessarily being incongruous. Though it is a departure from the sensible norm.

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]