What makes something funny? The philosophy of comedy.

Hi Philosophers!

We're meeting on a Tuesday this month as a new Practical Philosophy group has their inaugrual meeting on Wednesday and I'll be attending. I hope you can make both events for back-to-back Philosophy meetups!

Of course, this session is sure to be a fun one. Hope to see you there and have a few laughs together as we discuss the philosophy of comedy. :)

What makes something funny?

"Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps: for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be. We weep at what thwarts or exceeds our desires in serious matters; we laugh at what only disappoints our expectations in trifles… . To explain the nature of laughter and tears, is to account for the condition of human life; for it is in a manner compounded of the two!" - Hazlitt

“Taken generally...the ridiculous is a certain kind of evil, specifically a vice." - Plato

"Laughter often gives birth to foul discourse, and foul discourse to actions still more foul. Often from words and laughter proceed railing and insult; and from railing and insult, blows and wounds; and from blows and wounds, slaughter and murder. If, then, you would take good counsel for yourself, avoid not merely foul words and foul deeds, or blows and wounds and murders, but unseasonable laughter itself.” – John Chrysostom

"The most common kind of joke is that in which we expect one thing and another is said; here our own disappointed expectation makes us laugh." - Cicero

“That the laughter of others at what we do or say seriously offends us so keenly depends on the fact that it asserts that there is a great incongruity between our conceptions and the objective realities. For the same reason, the predicate “ludicrous” or “absurd” is insulting. The laugh of scorn announces with triumph to the baffled adversary how incongruous were the conceptions he cherished with the reality which is now revealing itself to him.” - Schopenhauer

Why do we laugh? Although most people value laughter deeply, philosophers have traditionally given it little serious attention—and when they have, it’s often been with suspicion. Plato, for example, warned that laughter undermines reason and self-control, while early Christian theologians treated it as a moral danger, something to be restrained rather than celebrated. For centuries, laughter was associated with vice, vanity, or loss of dignity.

And yet, laughter is one of the most universal features of human life. In recent decades, philosophers and psychologists alike have begun to ask whether humor might reveal something profound about the human condition—our flexibility, creativity, and ability to play with meaning itself.
Understanding humour as a form of play offers a way to reconcile the philosophical unease with laughter. Rather than a lapse in reason, it may represent a different, more agile kind of thinking—one that tests boundaries, inverts expectations, and challenges authority, much like philosophy itself.

In this session, we’ll explore the philosophy of comedy and what it reveals about human nature, ethics, and society. Is laughter simply a reflex, or does it carry truth? Can comedy heal, or does it sometimes harm? And why do we often learn more from a good joke than a serious argument?

Some questions to think about:

• Is humour universal, or deeply cultural? Can something be objectively funny?
• Is comedy intentionally exclusionary, to those that get the joke?
• How does laughter shape power? Who gets to make jokes and at whose expense?
• Should we use more comedy in education? Does a good joke teach more than a good argument?
• Is ridicule acceptable morally? Or does it lead to further harm and the promotion of sterotypes?
• Why do we laugh at ourselves? Is self-mockery a sign of wisdom, weakness, humility or self-protection?
• Is laughter an act of intelligence, cruelty or liberation?
• Can there be a philosophy of comedy? Or does comedy resist analysis by its very nature? (AKA "if you have to explain it, it isn't funny).
• If philosophy seeks truth through reason, and comedy seeks it through absurdity, are they actually allies? Or does comedy undermine reason?

Thought Experiment: Suppose an AI is programmed to create jokes that make people laugh. It is always successful and never offensive. Would this be the pinnacle of comedy or the death of it?

Philosophy of Humor
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/

Are comedians our new philosophers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szMMFUl0lsA

Philosophize This - Henri Bergon Laughter
https://www.philosophizethis.org/podcast/episode-145-henri-bergson-pt-1-history