Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit Subscriptions.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

You can register for a free account to have four complimentary articles per month. We will occasionally email you a newsletter, from which you can unsubscribe at any time. We do not sell personal data or otherwise disclose personal information to other organisations.

Articles

Is Comedy Good for Us?

Damaris Stock has a laugh with Plato and friends.

Most people would admit that without comedy, life would be rather bleak. But what is comedy? The word incorporates not only the theatrical genre, but humour, wit, and whatever evokes laughter in general. Defining comedy, however, may be easier than explaining why we laugh, what makes us laugh, and also how laughter may indicate whether we’re morally good people. If we find racist jokes funny, does that automatically mark us as racists, or can we appreciate the wit of a joke without being morally accountable for doing so? Or what if our friend told us their dog died and we laughed straight in their face? Would that make us morally bad? But more importantly: How – if at all – is comedy good for us?

Compared to the ancient philosophers’ notions of comedy, our perception of humour has indubitably changed. Plato thought comedy belonged to the lower human instincts, for it undermined the logos (reason) of those indulging in humorous activities.

…