Why Can't Philosophers Laugh?  [electronic resource] /
Froese, Katrin.author.
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.
Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.
Chapter One : We Have a Body!?: Kant, Schopenhauer, and Bergson -- Chapter 2 Redeeming Laughter in Nietzsche -- Chapter 3 Humour and Finitude: Kierkegaard's Unscientific Postscript  -- Part II  -- Chapter 4: A Comic Confucius? -- Chapter 5 Humour as the Playful Sidekick to Language in the Zhuangzi  -- Chapter 6 Laughing for Nothing: Humour and Chan Buddhism.
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.
Philosophy.
Oriental literature.
Ethnology-Asia.
China-History.
Philosophy of Man.
Asian Literature.
Asian Culture.
History of China.