Philosophy dictionary

LAUGHTER

laughter: translation

We laugh at things that are laughable, but also laugh exultantly at a success, or bitterly at a failure, or at the unexpected or even the typical. We may even laugh but not at anything—with pure joy, or nervousness, or embarrassment, or merely because we have been physically tickled . The variety of causes or objects of laughter, and the absence of any obvious explanation of its function, have not deterred theorists. Hobbes thought that the passion of laughter is a ‘sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves’ (Human Nature, ix.12). Hutcheson wrote against the egoism of this account (‘Reflections on Laughter’,Dublin Journal, 1725), locating humour instead in a perception of incongruity, although he offered no real evidence that incongruity is either a necessary or a sufficient condition of something appearing comical. Bain (The Emotions and the Will, 1859) identifies the ludicrous with ‘the degradation of some person or interest possessing dignity, in circumstances that excite no other strong emotion’. Kant (Critique of Judgement, 1790) emphasizes the element of the unexpected, identifying laughter as ‘an affection arising from a strained expectation being suddenly reduced to nothing’. His view is expanded by Schopenhauer, who again finds incongruity at the basis of laughter. But as the Hobbes–Bain approach reminds us, it is not only the insult to reason that is funny but often the insult to other people. In his bookLe Rire: essai sur la signification du comique(1900), perhaps anticipating the comedians Jacques Tati or Charlie Chaplin, Bergson locates comedy as a defence against automatic, disjointed qualities that trespass against the essential spontaneity of life.
The capacity to take something as an occasion for humour evidently has a social function: it connects with play and with the rehearsal and defusing of potential conflict, but also can give rise to the more aggressive exclusion of persons and groups from consideration, by refusal to take them seriously, or by mockery and ridicule.

  1. laughter—мед.сущ. смех смех Англорусский медицинский словарь....Англо-русский медицинский словарь
  2. laughter—laughter translation nounADJECTIVE hearty helpless hysterical insane loud maniacal esp. AmE raucous uncontrollable uproarious wild I heard sounds of raucous laughteru ...Collocations dictionary
  3. laughter—laughter translationSynonyms and related wordsHomeric laughter amusement belly laugh boff boffola burst of laughter cachinnation cackle chortle chortling chuckle convulsi...Moby Thesaurus
  4. laughter—[lft]смех хохот...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  5. laughter—смех хохот...Англо-русский дополнительный словарь
  6. laughter—смех...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  7. laughter—смех...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  8. laughter—n смех...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  9. laughter—laughter [lft] nu смех хохот shrill laughter звонкий смехto roar with laughter покатываться со смеху...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  10. laughter—сущ. смех хохот to cause provoke laughter вызывать смех to double up with laughter сгибаться корчиться от смеха to roar with laughter покатываться со смеху contagious ...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  11. laughter—n. смех хохот...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  12. laughter—nсмх регтto burst into laughter розсмятисяto roar with laughter качатися вд смху...Англо-украинский словарь
  13. laughter—смх...Англо-український словник
  14. laughter—n смх регт Homeric гомеричний смх to burst into зареготати розсмятися to roar with качатися вд смху to die with помирати вд смху....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  15. laughter—[lft] nсмех хохотHomeric laughter гомерический хохотpeals of laughter взрывы смеха раскатистый смехto burst into laughter расхохотатьсяto roar with laughter хохотать ...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  16. laughter—laughter [lft] ni смех хохот Homeric гомерический хохот peals of взрывы смеха раскатистый смех to burst into расхохотаться to roar with хохотать покатываться со с...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  17. laughter—lft n смех хохот Homeric гомерический хохот peals of взрывы смеха раскатистый смех to burst into расхохотаться to roar with хохотать покатываться со смеху to...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  18. laughter—Better the last smile than the first laughter Хорошо смеется тот кто смеется последним X Laughter before sleep tears when wakened Ранний смех поздние слезы P Laughter ...Русско-английский словарь пословиц и поговорок