Why Cant Philosophers Laugh? - Katrin Froese Gebunden

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 unra veling philosophical assumptions through the comic and laughter may be necessary to live well.