Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy

Download Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019091761X
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy by : Pierre Destrée

Download or read book Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy written by Pierre Destrée and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient philosophers considered question about laughter, humor, and comedy to be both philosophically interesting and important. They theorized about laughter and its causes, moralized about the appropriate uses of humor and what it is appropriate to laugh at, and wrote treaties on comedic composition. They were often merciless in ridiculing their opponents' positions, borrowing comedic devices and techniques from comic poetry and drama to do so. This volume is organized around three sets of questions that illuminate the philosophical concerns and corresponding range of answers found in ancient philosophy. The first set investigates the psychology of laughter. What is going on in our minds when we laugh? What background conditions must be in place for laughter to occur? Is laughter necessarily hostile or derisive? The second set of questions concerns the ethical and social norms governing laughter and humor. When is it appropriate or inappropriate to laugh? Does laughter have a positive social function? Is there a virtue, or excellence, connected to laugher and humor? The third set of questions concerns the philosophical uses of humor and comedic technique. Do philosophers use humor exclusively in criticizing rivals, or can it play a positive educational role as well? If it can, how does philosophical humor communicate its philosophical content? This volume does not aim to settle these fascinating questions but more importantly to start a conversation about them, and serve as a reference point for discussions of laughter, humor, and comedy in ancient philosophy.

Plato's Laughter

Download Plato's Laughter PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438467389
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Plato's Laughter by : Sonja Madeleine Tanner

Download or read book Plato's Laughter written by Sonja Madeleine Tanner and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Counters the long-standing, solemn interpretation of Plato’s dialogues with one centered on the philosophical and pedagogical significance of Socrates as a comic figure. Plato was described as a boor and it was said that he never laughed out loud. Yet his dialogues abound with puns, jokes, and humor. Sonja Madeleine Tanner argues that in Plato’s dialogues Socrates plays a comical hero who draws heavily from the tradition of comedy in ancient Greece, but also reforms laughter to be applicable to all persons and truly shaming to none. Socrates introduces a form of self-reflective laughter that encourages, rather than stifles, philosophical inquiry. Laughter in the dialogues—both explicit and implied—suggests a view of human nature as incongruous with ourselves, simultaneously falling short of, and superseding, our own capacities. What emerges is a picture of human nature that bears a striking resemblance to Socrates’ own, laughable depiction, one inspired by Dionysus, but one that remains ultimately intractable. The book analyzes specific instances of laughter and the comical from the Apology, Laches, Charmides, Cratylus, Euthydemus, and the Symposium to support this, and to further elucidate the philosophical consequences of recognizing Plato’s laughter. Sonja Madeleine Tanner is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and the author of In Praise of Plato’s Poetic Imagination.

The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor

Download The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Suny Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor by : John Morreall

Download or read book The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor written by John Morreall and published by Suny Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book assesses the adequacy of the traditional theories of laughter and humor, suggests revised theories, and explores such areas as the aesthetics and ethics of humor, and the relation of amusement to other mental states. Theories of laughter and humor originated in ancient times with the view that laughter is an expression of feelings of superiority over another person. This superiority theory was held by Plato, Aristotle, and Hobbes. Another aspect of laughter, noted by Aristotle and Cicero and neglected until Kant and Schopenhauer developed it into the incongruity theory, is that laughter is often a reaction to the perception of some incongruity. According to the third and latest traditional theory, the relief theory of Herbert Spencer and Freud, laughter is the venting of superfluous nervous energy. Historical examples of all these theories are presented along with hybrid theories such as those of Descartes and Bergson. The book also features traditional explorations of the place of humor in aesthetics, drama, and literature. This is the first work in the last fifty years to include the classic sources in the philosophy of humor and the first to present theories by contemporary philosophers.

How to Tell a Joke

Download How to Tell a Joke PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691206163
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis How to Tell a Joke by : Marcus Tullius Cicero

Download or read book How to Tell a Joke written by Marcus Tullius Cicero and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Everyone knows that Marcus Tullius Cicero was one of the great statesmen, lawyers, and effective orators in the history of Rome. But did you also know he was regarded as one of the funniest people in Roman society as well? Five hundred years after his death, in the twilight of antiquity, the writer Macrobius ranks him alongside the comic playwright Plautus as the one of the two greatest wits ever. In this book, classicist Michael Fontaine, proposes to translate selections from Cicero's great rhetorical treatise, On the Ideal Orator (De Oratore). That larger work covered the whole of rhetoric and effective public speaking and debate. However, contained within it, is a long section focused on the effective use of humor in public speaking. In it, Cicero is concerned not just with various kinds of individual jokes, but with jokes that are advantageous in social situations. He advises readers on how to make the most effective use of wit to win friends, audiences, and achieve their overall ambitions. Cicero wants to teach his readers how to tell a joke without looking like a buffoon, and how to prevent or avoid jokes from backfiring. Hence, he does give scores of examples of jokes-some of which are timeless and translate easily, others that involve puns in Latin that challenged the translator's creativity. But overall, this work brings to the fore a little known, but important part of Cicero's classic work."--

Making Philosophy Laugh

Download Making Philosophy Laugh PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1666755990
Total Pages : 167 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (667 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Making Philosophy Laugh by : Dustin Peone

Download or read book Making Philosophy Laugh written by Dustin Peone and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2023-10-31 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary philosophy has adopted an increasingly tragic point of view. Tragedy, though, is only a partial truth of the human condition. Comedy is another partial truth. The nature of human existence is neither wholly the one nor the other, but tragi-comic. Philosophy must be attuned to both despair and laughter if it is to understand its own world. In Making Philosophy Laugh, the philosopher Dustin Peone makes an apology for the comic side of existence and its use in philosophy. He demonstrates the social and moral uses of humor and analyzes its significance for speculative thinking. Folly and irony are shown to be vital facets of dialectical philosophy. The reader is introduced to the comical side of Socrates and Homer, Descartes and Vico, Kant and Hegel, and many others. Finally, a doctrine of the tragi-comic sense of life is presented that does justice to all aspects of human existence and liberates the spirit from the grimness of serious thought.

Humour

Download Humour PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300244789
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Humour by : Terry Eagleton

Download or read book Humour written by Terry Eagleton and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling guide to the fundamental place of humour and comedy within Western culture—by one of its greatest exponents Written by an acknowledged master of comedy, this study reflects on the nature of humour and the functions it serves. Why do we laugh? What are we to make of the sheer variety of laughter, from braying and cackling to sniggering and chortling? Is humour subversive, or can it defuse dissent? Can we define wit? Packed with illuminating ideas and a good many excellent jokes, the book critically examines various well-known theories of humour, including the idea that it springs from incongruity and the view that it reflects a mildly sadistic form of superiority to others. Drawing on a wide range of literary and philosophical sources, Terry Eagleton moves from Aristotle and Aquinas to Hobbes, Freud, and Bakhtin, looking in particular at the psychoanalytical mechanisms underlying humour and its social and political evolution over the centuries.

All Too Human

Download All Too Human PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 331991331X
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (199 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis All Too Human by : Lydia L. Moland

Download or read book All Too Human written by Lydia L. Moland and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-08-24 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an analysis of humor, comedy, and laughter as philosophical topics in the 19th Century. It traces the introduction of humor as a new aesthetic category inspired by Laurence Sterne’s "Tristram Shandy" and shows Sterne’s deep influence on German aesthetic theorists of this period. Through differentiating humor from comedy, the book suggests important distinctions within the aesthetic philosophies of G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Solger, and Jean Paul Richter. The book links Kant’s underdeveloped incongruity theory of laughter to Schopenhauer’s more complete account and identifies humor’s place in the pessimistic philosophy of Julius Bahnsen. It considers how caricature functioned at the intersection of politics, aesthetics, and ethics in Karl Rosenkranz’s work, and how Kierkegaard and Nietzsche made humor central not only to their philosophical content but also to its style. The book concludes with an explication of French philosopher Henri Bergson’s claim that laughter is a response to mechanical inelasticity.

Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy

Download Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190460555
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (94 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy by : Pierre Destrée

Download or read book Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy written by Pierre Destrée and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient philosophers considered question about laughter, humor, and comedy to be both philosophically interesting and important. They theorized about laughter and its causes, moralized about the appropriate uses of humor and what it is appropriate to laugh at, and wrote treaties on comedic composition. They were often merciless in ridiculing their opponents' positions, borrowing comedic devices and techniques from comic poetry and drama to do so. This volume is organized around three sets of questions that illuminate the philosophical concerns and corresponding range of answers found in ancient philosophy. The first set investigates the psychology of laughter. What is going on in our minds when we laugh? What background conditions must be in place for laughter to occur? Is laughter necessarily hostile or derisive? The second set of questions concerns the ethical and social norms governing laughter and humor. When is it appropriate or inappropriate to laugh? Does laughter have a positive social function? Is there a virtue, or excellence, connected to laugher and humor? The third set of questions concerns the philosophical uses of humor and comedic technique. Do philosophers use humor exclusively in criticizing rivals, or can it play a positive educational role as well? If it can, how does philosophical humor communicate its philosophical content? This volume does not aim to settle these fascinating questions but more importantly to start a conversation about them, and serve as a reference point for discussions of laughter, humor, and comedy in ancient philosophy.

The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor

Download The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Suny Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor by : John Morreall

Download or read book The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor written by John Morreall and published by Suny Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book assesses the adequacy of the traditional theories of laughter and humor, suggests revised theories, and explores such areas as the aesthetics and ethics of humor, and the relation of amusement to other mental states. Theories of laughter and humor originated in ancient times with the view that laughter is an expression of feelings of superiority over another person. This superiority theory was held by Plato, Aristotle, and Hobbes. Another aspect of laughter, noted by Aristotle and Cicero and neglected until Kant and Schopenhauer developed it into the incongruity theory, is that laughter is often a reaction to the perception of some incongruity. According to the third and latest traditional theory, the relief theory of Herbert Spencer and Freud, laughter is the venting of superfluous nervous energy. Historical examples of all these theories are presented along with hybrid theories such as those of Descartes and Bergson. The book also features traditional explorations of the place of humor in aesthetics, drama, and literature. This is the first work in the last fifty years to include the classic sources in the philosophy of humor and the first to present theories by contemporary philosophers.

Plato's Laughter

Download Plato's Laughter PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 1438467370
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Plato's Laughter by : Sonja Madeleine Tanner

Download or read book Plato's Laughter written by Sonja Madeleine Tanner and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Counters the long-standing, solemn interpretation of Plato’s dialogues with one centered on the philosophical and pedagogical significance of Socrates as a comic figure. Plato was described as a boor and it was said that he never laughed out loud. Yet his dialogues abound with puns, jokes, and humor. Sonja Madeleine Tanner argues that in Plato’s dialogues Socrates plays a comical hero who draws heavily from the tradition of comedy in ancient Greece, but also reforms laughter to be applicable to all persons and truly shaming to none. Socrates introduces a form of self-reflective laughter that encourages, rather than stifles, philosophical inquiry. Laughter in the dialogues—both explicit and implied—suggests a view of human nature as incongruous with ourselves, simultaneously falling short of, and superseding, our own capacities. What emerges is a picture of human nature that bears a striking resemblance to Socrates’ own, laughable depiction, one inspired by Dionysus, but one that remains ultimately intractable. The book analyzes specific instances of laughter and the comical from the Apology, Laches, Charmides, Cratylus, Euthydemus, and the Symposium to support this, and to further elucidate the philosophical consequences of recognizing Plato’s laughter.

Comic Relief

Download Comic Relief PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1444358294
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (443 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Comic Relief by : John Morreall

Download or read book Comic Relief written by John Morreall and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-08-24 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor develops an inclusive theory that integrates psychological, aesthetic, and ethical issues relating to humor Offers an enlightening and accessible foray into the serious business of humor Reveals how standard theories of humor fail to explain its true nature and actually support traditional prejudices against humor as being antisocial, irrational, and foolish Argues that humor’s benefits overlap significantly with those of philosophy Includes a foreword by Robert Mankoff, Cartoon Editor of The New Yorker

Philosophy, Humor, and the Human Condition

Download Philosophy, Humor, and the Human Condition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030326713
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (33 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Philosophy, Humor, and the Human Condition by : Lydia Amir

Download or read book Philosophy, Humor, and the Human Condition written by Lydia Amir and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-12-19 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents an original worldview, Homo risibilis, wherein self-referential humor is proposed as the path leading from a tragic view of life to a liberating embrace of human ridicule. Humor is presented as a conceptual tool for holding together contradictions and managing the unresolvable conflict of the human condition till Homo risibilis resolves the inherent tension without epistemological cost. This original approach to the human condition allows us to effectively address life’s ambiguities without losing sight of its tragic overtones and brings along far-ranging personal and social benefits. By defining the problem that other philosophies and many religions attempt to solve in terms we can all relate to, Homo risibilis enables an understanding of the Other that surpasses mere tolerance. Its egalitarian vision roots an ethic of compassion without requiring metaphysical or religious assumptions and liberates the individual for action on others’ behalf. It offers a new model of rationality which effectively handles and eventually resolves the tension between oneself, others, and the world at large. Amir’s view of the human condition transcends the field of philosophy of humor. An original worldview that fits the requirements of traditional philosophy, Homo risibilis is especially apt to answer contemporary concerns. It embodies the minimal consensus we need in order to live together and the active role philosophy should responsibly play in a global world. Here developed for the first time in a complete way, the Homo risibilis worldview is not only liberating in nature, but also illuminates the shortcomings of other philosophies in their attempts to secure harmony in a disharmonious world for a disharmonious human being.

Laughter

Download Laughter PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Laughter by : Henri Bergson

Download or read book Laughter written by Henri Bergson and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Laughter

Download Laughter PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Lindhardt og Ringhof
ISBN 13 : 8728337468
Total Pages : 121 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (283 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Laughter by : Henri Bergson

Download or read book Laughter written by Henri Bergson and published by Lindhardt og Ringhof. This book was released on 2022-07-14 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Laughter’ is a collection of three essays by French philosopher and Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Henri Bergson. In this interesting piece of philosophy that will be enjoyed by those studying stand-up comedy, Bergson explores laughter, the meaning of the comic, and how laughter is caused by a comic to determine categories and laws of comedy. Henri Bergson was a French philosopher, born in 1859, who criticised his contemporary Kant, and debated Albert Einstein. In 1927, Bergson won the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented".

A Philosopher Looks at the Sense of Humor

Download A Philosopher Looks at the Sense of Humor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780982105252
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Philosopher Looks at the Sense of Humor by : Richard C. Richards

Download or read book A Philosopher Looks at the Sense of Humor written by Richard C. Richards and published by . This book was released on 2013-07 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Philosopher Looks at The Sense of Humor by Richard C. Richards is intended as a starting point for a philosophical discussion. A colleague once said that Richards writes about humor in a humorous way. He said there are serious books about humor, and humorous books, but a combination of the two occurs rarely. In this tour of the wide, wonderful world of the humorous, he touches upon such issues as what causes a sense of humor, whether it can be taught, what its value may be, how it is connected with happiness, and whether it should be placed on the endangered species list. He out of necessity explores the habitat of the amusing, the entertaining, and the comedic. There is considerable laughter in the world, and a more than abundant supply of things to laugh at. But since laughter and humor are only partially and not essentially connected, this may end up being a eulogy for the death of humor. Perhaps this book will cause it. We can only hope. This book may also be useful as a textbook in a classroom setting.

Greek Laughter

Download Greek Laughter PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521717748
Total Pages : 632 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (177 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Greek Laughter by : Stephen Halliwell

Download or read book Greek Laughter written by Stephen Halliwell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-02 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to offer an integrated reading of ancient Greek attitudes to laughter. Taking material from various genres and contexts, the book analyses both the theory and the practice of laughter as a revealing expression of Greek values and mentalities. Greek society developed distinctive institutions for the celebration of laughter as a capacity which could bridge the gap between humans and gods; but it also feared laughter for its power to expose individuals and groups to shame and even violence. Caught between ideas of pleasure and pain, friendship and enmity, laughter became a theme of recurrent interest in various contexts. Employing a sophisticated model of cultural history, Stephen Halliwell traces elaborations of the theme in a series of important texts: ranging far beyond modern accounts of 'humour', he shows how perceptions of laughter helped to shape Greek conceptions of the body, the mind and the meaning of life.

Humour: A Very Short Introduction

Download Humour: A Very Short Introduction PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191642592
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Humour: A Very Short Introduction by : Noël Carroll

Download or read book Humour: A Very Short Introduction written by Noël Carroll and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-01-23 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humour has been discovered in every known human culture and thinkers have discussed it for over two thousand years. Humour can serve many functions; it can be used to relieve stress, to promote goodwill among strangers, to dissipate tension within a fractious group, to display intelligence, and some have even claimed that it improves health and fights sickness. In this Very Short Introduction Noel Carroll examines the leading theories of humour including The Superiority Theory and The Incongruity Theory. He considers the relation of humour to emotion and cognition, and explores the value of humour, specifically in its social functions. He argues that humour, and the comic amusement that follows it, has a crucial role to play in the construction of communities, but he also demonstrates that the social aspect of humour raises questions such as 'When is humour immoral?' and 'Is laughing at immoral humour itself immoral?'. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.