What is a good joke, especially for philosophers who agree with Bergson?
I understand he felt there were three rules of humour, but I wondered what made something a good joke, rather than just funny. Seriousness?
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Just adding a link to Bergson's book Laughter archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24472/page/n5 – Frank Hubeny May 4 at 17:06
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2For Bergson, humour arises when the elasticity of the world is interrupted by something rigid. An example might be when, in The Hictchhickers's Guide, Marvin the paranoid android responds to Arthur's expressions of awe and wonderment with "Yes, sir. I see it. It's rubbish". – Nick May 4 at 17:21
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1by rigid to you mean mechanical @NickR ? we tend not to find mechanical things funny, exactly, else comedy would just be steam trains etc – another_name May 4 at 18:37
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1@another_name I believe Bergson did include the mechanical in his analysis as one example of "rigidity". I am only vaguely familiar with his work. The example I have given may be a bit misleading since it involves a "mechanoid". The point was more about Marvin's rigid attitude. Amongst other things, I would suggest that Bergson was drawing on the industrialisation/mechanisation of the world at the time and its "rigidity". People like Chaplin and Keayton often featured this in their humour. – Nick May 4 at 19:39
