Niesha Morales

11/10/19

Dr. Martino

The Philosophy of Humour

When I think of humor, the first thing that comes to mind is the jokes that I and my

friends tell so that we all end up laughing to the point we can't breathe. For me, humor is there to

brighten people’s days and to bring together a group of friends. Its place is everywhere in life,

from the playground to the workplace. But humor at times can also be used to make one feel

better than someone else. For example, in many comedians’ skits, specifically the British

comedians, in this case, they will often make fun of trouble in another country to make their

audience laugh. Also when I think of humor I will think of the times when it is usually shied

away from, such as a funeral or a hospital but from experience I have learned that even these are

places where humor is used and sometimes where it can be needed the most. For example, many

families are unused to showing negative emotions, so when a family member will die they will

often ask for a party so that their family will celebrate the life they had lived, which often

includes telling favorite jokes or stories that when looked upon now are told with barely

contained laughter.

After reading the first couple of chapters of Simon Chritchley’s book, called On Humour,

I can see that there can be a complexity to jokes. Firstly there is the fact that there are 3 different

theories that have been made for jokes. There was a superior theory stated by Plato, Aristotle,

Hobbes, and Quintilian is laughter is caused by the feeling of superiority over someone else.
Next is the relief theory which comes from Herbert Spencer, he says that humor is a relief of

nervous energy that has been built up in the listener from their expectations of the joke. Lastly is

the incongruity theory from Francis Hutcheson where humor is felt by the fact that we know one

thing should happen but something else entirely happens. After reading and learning about these

different theories I can see how this section shows how humor can make us see things that we

don’t usually like to see or think about, for example, there is the superior theory. But on the other

hand, it is also able to promote something new, like when talking about the incongruity theory

we are given something that we at first didn’t think of. Continuing to section two we move our

focus to the comedians themselves. These are the people who don’t just see the good but also see

the bad in society and the world. Often these are the people who will take the societal structures

and state that they are not needed as much as people believe. In this way, the comedians are the

ones who promote new ways of thinking. But within the same breathe the comedians will often

maintain what we view as being familiar. For example, certain jokes will often enforce “sectors”

of society. With this reactionary humor, we can see the truths that at other times we wouldn’t be

forced to acknowledge.

In section three we are told about how a lot of good humor will return us to what we

know as being familiar. Sometimes it does this by working hand in hand with religion. When

first thought about a person will think that religion and comedy are two very different things but

even with their differences, there are many things that the two have in common. For example,

there is the fact that Both the world of comedy and prayer are ones where the people are equal.

Unlike a person’s daily life of work where you are seen as being different from the people

around you. In both comedy and religion, it is like you and everyone else are set on a level
playing ground where you are all seen as being much the same from one person to the next.

But at the same time, you have to acknowledge that they have a big difference between them.

This difference is that religion will often show us another world that we can miraculously get to

but humor tells us that this one is ours and we can’t leave it but we can change it. Continuing on

this section also talked about the fact that by taking us away and causing us to laugh at the

situation we are being brought back not only to common sense but to our comfort zones. In the

last section that I read it is easy for me to see that it was explaining how humor will often

maintain what people view as being familiar. It does this by often being hard to get across to

someone who either does not understand the language or the culture that the joke is about or

represents. This maintains what people see as being familiar because it in a way shows the

distinctions that different people and cultures will often have. Further, in this section, I was able

to pick up that it was talking about the part of society that most tend to ignore, which is the fact

that we often laugh at those we see as weird or not like us. It went on to talk about how

countries will often laugh at other countries that they see as being dumber than them or being

weirder in some way, shape, or form.

After reading these sections I found it interesting how Critchley was showing me all that

humor can do. In the first section, he showed me how humor often makes us see what we

would rather not. And he did this by telling me about the different theories. Most specifically the

superior theory, which has been referenced by several philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle,

made me realize this because it is about laughing at those that you feel that you are better.

Following that, in section two we talk about how the comedians are among the people who will

often promote new ways of thinking and seeing situations differently. As he goes on to talk about

this, he has an excerpt from a man named Eddie Walter who describes how comedians are

different from normal people, how these are the ones who “dares to see what his listeners shy
away from, fear to express.” For example, when a comedian sees something that they don’t like

or might want to change then they tend to joke about it and mention ways that people could help

in changing it. In section three page 16 we are returned to what we see as being familiar and

this is done by comparing religion and comedy which are things that everyone has encountered

in some form. He mentions how M. A. Screech “confirms the place of laughter in the Bible and

the self-understanding of Christianity through the ages.” But it also does this by taking the

person away from common sense that we often expect from a certain situation. He shows this

best by showing us how it takes us yet brings us back, one of the examples being “ do you

believe in the life to come? Mine was always that.” By taking us from it we are being brought

back to it. And in the last section, we continue to maintain the familiar but in a way of how

laughter can often distinguish cultures. He goes on to talk about how Paul Valery states that

“Humour is untranslatable” When a joke is having to be described it is often viewed as not being

funny. With this in mind, if you were trying to tell a joke to someone from another culture they

would probably not understand so they wouldn’t see the joke as being funny.

In conclusion, after reading this I can acknowledge that my studies have been advanced

because when observing comedy I have never thought about a philosophical point to it. But now

I can take notice that much of comedy has a point in philosophy and it is something thought

through rather than something that just occurs at any point in time. After this reading, I can see

that humor has more places than I had thought, and every joke, even if told similarly, can have a

different meaning. For me, this is mainly shown by the three different theories that I read about.

Especially the incongruity theory, while I acknowledge that people tend to enjoy the jokes they

don’t see coming I didn’t see how it is also promoting a new way of thinking for people.