What’s So Funny?
at or about something, that interests the philosopher. Given intentionality, ‘laughter,’ ‘amusement’ and ‘humor’ may designate a single state of mind. 4
We must remember to consider early descriptions of humor generously.
Hobbes’ Superiority Theory holds that the experience of humor is the result
of a sudden feeling of superiority in comparison to something or someone inferior,
including our former selves. 5 Though many philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle,
and Descartes, have described a similar notion of humor, Hobbes’ account is
thought to be most explicit. He states: “I may therefore conclude that the p assion of
laughter is nothing else but a sudden glory arising from sudden conception of some
eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmities of others, or with our own
formerly.” 6 The “sudden glory” Hobbes describes represents the moment of
realization we have of our superior status relative to the object of our amusement.
The standardized form for Hobbes’ Superiority Theory is as follows:
(P1) We can conceive our own superiority when we compare ourselves to someone else or our former selves.
(P2) This conception can occur suddenly.
(P3) This sudden conception produces a feeling of glory.
(P4) Sudden glory produces laughter.
(C) Laughter is the result of a sudden recognition of our superiority .
McGraw’s and Warren’s Benign Violation Theory, referred to as BV Theory
for the remainder of this paper, holds that “humor occurs when (1) a circumstance is
appraised as a violation, (2) the circumstance is appraised as benign, and (3) both
appraisals occur simultaneously.” 7 Regarding Condition (1), McGraw and Warren
define a violation as “anything that threatens one’s beliefs about how things should
4 Scruton and Jones, "Laughter," 198. 5 John Morreall, “Philosophy of Humor,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/humor/. 6 Hobbes, The Elements of Law, 42. 7 Peter A. McGraw and Caleb Warren, “Benign Violation Theory,” Encyclopedia of Humor Studies (2014): 75. https://leeds-faculty.colorado.edu/mcgrawp/pdf/mcgraw.warren.2014.pdf
Volume VI (2023)
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