Philosophy of humour

Speaking generally, humour is an emotion. An emotion felt similar to sadness or anger. Just like a number of different scenarios may anger you, the same goes for humour. However, speaking as generally as possible I would say that "humour is found in situations which represent familiar scenarios that resonate with us yet show them in a different light to that in which we would usually see them; a more positive one."

That is all.

It seems so, especially when I recall that when stressed I am more likely to lose my temper (anger) and burst out in uncontrollable laughter (humor).

One man's tragedy can be another man's comedy... Sad but true.

Humour can be used in otherwise unbearable situations. I read a book called "Mans search for meaning", which describes a psychologists experience of being a prisoner of war in WW2. He found often that among the group that he was with there was a lot of humour, and humour served as a coping mechanism in an intolerable situation.

To be able to make people laugh, however, is a form of power, and thats part of the pleasure in being funny.

Absurdity is a big part of it maybe. When we laugh at someone's seriousness, we do so because we don't find their seriousness feasible in relation to what it is that they are serious about, and so we find it "Absurd", and we laugh.

Great post, ep.

Humour can be a very handy tool in a social situation. For instance, if we are having a debate, and our opponent retorts with some rather good points that we cannot equal. By making a humorous point, in a sense you can undermine the point they have just made in the context of "serious debate", and at the same time win everyone over by making them laugh.

Yeah, humour attacks the structure of an argument right at the base and kind of dislodges the points it makes.

EP, that's right, but isn't it also effective to save face by conceding the other's points?

Yes, by employing humour, you save face when you’re losing an argument, rather than appearing to be more and more of a fool, by arguing a point that has been shown to be invalid or whatever. You save face, but like Pentacle queen said, by using humour you can attack and make a mockery of the whole situation, and in a way disarm the entire situation.