Laughter, humor, and comedy in ancient philosophy / edited by Pierre Destrée and Franco V. Trivigno.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Destrée, Pierre, editor.

Trivigno, Franco V., editor.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comic, The.

Laughter.

Philosophy, Ancient.

Wit and humor.

Comedy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 286 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Ancient philosophers were very interested in questions about laughter, humour and comedy. They theorized about laughter and its causes, moralized about the appropriate uses of humour and what it is appropriate to laugh at, and wrote treaties on comedic composition. This volume explores themes that were important for ancient philosophers: the psychology of laughter, the ethical and social norms governing laughter and humour, and the philosophical uses of humour and comedic technique.

Contents:

Plato on laughter and moral harm / Franco V. Trivigno

Aristotle on the causes of humor / Pierre Destrée

The laughing philosopher and the physician : laughter, diagnosis and therapy / Jim Hankinson

Divine and human laughter in later Platonism / Malcolm Heath

Aristotle on wittiness / Matt Walker

Laughter, social norms and ethics in Cicero's works / Charles Guérin

Laughter and the moral guide : Dio Chrysostom and Plutarch / Michael Trapp

Self-ridicule : Socratic wisdom / Paul Woodruff

Ridicule and protreptic : Plato, his reader and the role of comedy in inquiry / M.M. McCabe

Humor as philosophical subversion, especially in the skeptics / Richard Bett

Philosophy is great fun! Laughter in Epicureanism / Geert Roskam

The mouse, the moneybox, and the six-footed scurrying Solecism : satire and riddles in Seneca's letters / Margaret Graver

Diogenes vs. Demonax : laughter as philosophy in Lucian / Inger Kuin.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on July 30, 2019).

ISBN:

9780190460563

0190460563

9780190460556

0190460555

9780190917616

019091761X