more from this thinker
|
more from this text
Single Idea 12173
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 8. Humour
]
Full Idea
There are amusing buildings, but not amusing rocks and cliffs. If I were to propose a candidate for the formal object of amusement, then the human would be my choice, ...or at least emphasise its centrality.
Gist of Idea
The central object of amusement is the human
Source
Roger Scruton (Laughter [1982], §9)
Book Ref
Scruton,Roger: 'The Aesthetic Understanding' [Methuen 1983], p.163
A Reaction
Sounds good. Animal behaviour only seems to amuse if it evokes something human. Plants would have to look a bit human to be funny.
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]
|