This book analyzes Western and Chinese philosophical texts to determine why laughter and the
comic have not been a major part of philosophical discourse. Katrin Froese maintains that many
philosophical accounts of laughter try to unearth laughter's purpose thereby rendering it
secondary to the intentional and purposive aspects of human nature that impel us to
philosophize. Froese also considers texts that take laughter and the comic as starting points
attempting to philosophize out of laughter rather than merely trying to unearth reasons for
laughter. The book proposes that continuously unraveling philosophical assumptions through the
comic and laughter may be necessary to live well.
