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Single Idea 6211
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 8. Humour
]
Full Idea
The passion of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.
Gist of Idea
Laughter is a sudden glory in realising the infirmity of others, or our own formerly
Source
Thomas Hobbes (Human Nature [1640], Ch.IX.13)
Book Ref
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.10
A Reaction
Laughter tends to involve something unusual. We don't just burst out with a glory of vanity whenever we meet some inferiority in another person.
The
15 ideas
with the same theme
[explaining the nature and sources of what is funny]:
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7494
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Laughter is mad; of mirth, what doeth it?
[Anon (Ecc)]
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8767
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Sorrow is better than laughter
[Anon (Ecc)]
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6211
|
Laughter is a sudden glory in realising the infirmity of others, or our own formerly
[Hobbes]
|
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12171
|
Absurdity is incongruity between correct and false points of view
[Schopenhauer]
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22047
|
Wherever there is painless contradiction there is also comedy
[Kierkegaard]
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14833
|
Comedy is a transition from fear to exuberance
[Nietzsche]
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18303
|
Reject wisdom that lacks laughter
[Nietzsche]
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12318
|
The female body, when taken in its entirety, is the Phallus itself
[Badiou]
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12169
|
Since only men laugh, it seems to be an attribute of reason
[Scruton]
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12170
|
Amusement rests on superiority, or relief, or incongruity
[Scruton]
|
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12172
|
Objects of amusement do not have to be real
[Scruton]
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12173
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The central object of amusement is the human
[Scruton]
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6848
|
Humour is practically enacted philosophy
[Critchley]
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6847
|
Humour can give a phenomenological account of existence, and point to change
[Critchley]
|
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22701
|
Jokes can sometimes be funny because they are offensive
[Jacobson,D]
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