Kant's Theory of Laughter
Date
2021-03
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The British Society of Aesthetics
Abstract
In this paper I offer an alternative interpretation of Immanuel Kant’s theory of laughter that can meet the challenges left behind by the interpretations that have so far been given. I argue that laughter is a reaction to the dissolution of nonsense, which takes the form of realizing our own misconceptions about the object. Laughter reveals something about our cognitive and rational system: namely, that it is insufficient to explain all of our experiences and perceptions of the world and that we often need to revise our expectations in order to make sense of the world. In this respect, laughter stands in a direct opposition to Kant’s notion of the sublime.
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This article is published open access in Debates in Aesthetics, also available at https://debatesinaesthetics.org/debates-in-aesthetics-vol-16-no-1/#KUPLEN. Made available under the CC BY 3.0 license.
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Journal Article
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Citation
Kuplen, Mojca, "Kant's Theory of Laughter," Debates in Aesthetics (2021) 16:1. https://debatesinaesthetics.org/debates-in-aesthetics-vol-16-no-1/#KUPLEN