âAha!/Haha! â Thatâs a Good One!â On the Correlation of Laughter and Understanding in Joke Reception

Mira Magdalena Sickinger

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Chapter 5 âAha!/Haha! â Thatâs a Good One!â On the Correlation of Laughter and Understanding in Joke Reception

In: Philosophy of Humour

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Mira Magdalena Sickinger

Mira Magdalena Sickinger
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 80â91

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004548817_007

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Abstract

In this paper I analyze the relation between understanding a joke and laughing about it. To be more explicit, I seek to investigate whether one of them comes first, and if so, which, or whether they come jointly. I elaborate my position by defending the claim that performed jokes, in successful cases, elicit a response in which laughter and understanding occur simultaneously. To develop this theory, I determine the conditions that must be met in order to allow for a joke performance to be successful. This ideal situation of âsuccessful jokingâ is given if and only if the recipient both understands the joke and laughs about it. By putting laughter and understanding on an equal footing in my model, I support the idea that the pleasure we experience in joke reception is based both on insight and entertainment. By establishing my model of simultaneity (L/U), I challenge two other positions. The first one suggests that laughter, as a triumphant expression of successful âdata integrity checkingâ in the reception of a joke, is based on and follows understanding (U-L). The other position regards laughter as the primary phenomenon of the joke and insights only as potential side-effects (L-[U]).

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Philosophy of Humour

New Perspectives

Series:Â Value Inquiry Book Series, Volume: 389

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004548817

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 04 Jul 2023

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - Philosophy of Mind
  - Anthropology

Front Matter

Part 1 Humour and the History of Philosophy

Part 2 New Theoretical Contributions

Part 3 Humour, Morality, Feminism and Politics

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Chapter 5 âAha!/Haha! â Thatâs a Good One!â On the Correlation of Laughter and Understanding in Joke Reception

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Philosophy of Humour

New Perspectives

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Chapter 5 âAha!/Haha! â Thatâs a Good One!â On the Correlation of Laughter and Understanding in Joke Reception