The ancient roots of humor theory

Abstract

Many modern humor scholars have oversimplified their summaries of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian's views on humor, focusing on the philosophers' cautionary warnings about the rhetorical efficacy and ethics of humor. Although the philosophers did write much on the offensive nature of jests, which can be considered illustrative of superiority theory, I describe elements of the incongruity and relief theories of humor motivation in their work. There is evidence to suggest that all four philosophers found humor to be a fitting and effective response to certain exigencies. It is more accurate to summarize their views thus: Humor has the potential to be a powerful tool of persuasion, but like any potent weapon (discursive or non-discursive) it should be used with caution.

Raised eyebrows as gestural triggers in humour: The case of sarcasm and hyper-understanding

“…A gesture such as 1+2 (see Ekman's perspective in Section 2.2) has been said to be an expression of surprise or interest (Ekman 1979: 201); its co-occurrence with humour can thus be accounted for by seeing humour in terms of surprise (Janko 1984, Attardo 1994, Perks 2012. Research in the field of humour reveals that speakers indeed manipulate the discourse space in order to surprise the hearers with new readings (cf.…”

Analysis of Humour in Tv Series Friends and Its Translation Into Lithuanian

“…Perks (2012) and references there). Kant was arguably the first to approach humour scientifically (Morreal, 2016).…”

El buen humor como virtud en la práctica docente

“…Tomás de Aquino llama a la persona que tiene la virtud moral asociada con el juego y el humor, como agradable con una casta de mente feliz que da a sus palabras y hechos un giro alegre (Siurana, 2014). Perks (2012) hace referencia sobre la opinión de Platón quien en ocasiones juzgó a la risa de ser violenta, de burla y desprecio. Por parte de los romanos, Cicerón, en su obra Oratore, describe varios métodos por los cuales el ilógico e inesperado puede ser utilizado en el buen humor.…”

“…La tercera teoría es la de la incongruencia que de acuerdo con la aportación de Perks (2012) ha sido la más aceptada. Según esta teoría el entretenimiento cómico es una reacción a algo que viola el modelo normal de una persona.…”