The Object of this inquiry was to take a careful consideration about the concepts of irony and laughter which exert nowadays a great influence throughout the realm of culture and thought, through a detailed consideration on the development of the conc ...
The Object of this inquiry was to take a careful consideration about the concepts of irony and laughter which exert nowadays a great influence throughout the realm of culture and thought, through a detailed consideration on the development of the concept of irony and laughter from antiquity to the present in various realms of philosophy, literature, art etc. Thereby, we hoped to be able to lay a foundation of theoretical understanding of contemporary culture and thought. For this purpose, we analysed first the dialectical correlation of these two concepts with those of totality, seriousness. Then we made clear the essential correlation between irony and laughter. On the basis of the result of this analysis, we observed closely the transition of these concepts from antiquity through the middle ages to the present. How they were understood by philosophers in each phase and which changes have happened concretely since the concept of irony was dealt with seriously and evaluated positively by romanticists such as Friedrich Schlegel in modern times and that of laughter was given attention since the 20th century. The result of this inquiry is as follows. After the result of the research of the first year, the concept of irony, from the very outset, had a very close relation with that of laughter in the history of western culture and philosophy. It becomes clear when we recognize the fact that the origin of the word 'irony' are the greek words 'eiron, eironeia' which were derived from a type of character in the comedy of that period. Socrates, who is called as founding father of western philosophy, and his disciple Plato did not write a book which dealt with the concept of irony systematically. But they established it as an essential method in the pursuit of truth. But Aristotle did not define it as a method in the pursuit of truth, but defined and dealt with it in the ethical level. More accurately, he considered it in two levels, namely ethical and rhetorical. In the ethical level, he evaluated it somewhat positively, but in the rhetorical negatively. In roman empire, irony was understood as a refined way of talking and writing by Quintillian and Cicero. But in the middle ages, it was appraised almost always negatively, even regarded as capital sin by Thomas Aquinas. In modern period various trends appeared and established themselves as the ways of thinking about the concept of irony. Theses trends exert still a continuous influence on everyday or scientific mode of thinking about it. In the period of romanticism, opinions about irony changed from the negative to the affirmative. In particular, Friedrich Schlegel who was a representative theorist of the romantic movement insisted clearly that irony is the means of self-expression of the artistic genius. This change in the evaluation of irony can nowadays play a great role in revealing the cause of its positive appraisal. On the contrary, Hegel as idealist and dialectical theorist leveled criticism on such a romantic concept of irony. Kierkegaard as pioneer of the existential philosophy criticised sharply Hegel's criticism on Schlegel. But he did not advocate the romantic concept of irony, but went back to the concept of irony in the philosophy of Socrates and made its essential feature explicit and on the basis of it criticised both views of Romanticism and Hegel simultaneously. He thereby made the philosophical debate on the concept of irony full-fledgedly carried out. Today, the concept of irony is used as an effective means of resistance against the modern concept of totality. Post-modern Philosophers such as Richard Rorty, Jacuqes Derrida etc. pay attention to it. In the work of Umberto Eco, namely Open Work, its practical effect expands itself into the possibility of infinite versions of interpretation about the meaning of artworks. Irony has taken various shapes from antiquity to the present in the works of great artists. These works can be regarded as valuable examples of the ways in which irony was thought of and of the changes in the ways of considering it. Therefore, we analysed the works of art such as those of Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ludwig Tieck, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Max Ernst, Hitchcock etc. in various ages throughout various genres. In the second year of this inquiry, we examined from various angles theories about the concept of laughter in the history of philosophy, literature and art. Thereby we made clear two ways of resistance, i. e. irony and laughter, against oppression caused by totality and seriousness and wished to contribute to the development of theory and practice in the realms of philosophy, literature and art. For this purpose, we began by considering two opposing ideas of Aristotle and Diogenes about laughter and then examined how laughter gained the meaning as means of resistance against ruling classes through the carnivals in the middle ages. Since modern period, laughter gradually has gained more influence and been given attention by many philosophers such as Nietzsche, Bergson, Freud, Adorno, Benjamin, Sloterdijk, Zizek in 20th century. Finally, we examined how laughter was put into shape by the works of Picasso, Dali, Chaplin, Eco, Kundera etc. What we could make clear in this research in the second year is as follows. From antiquity to the middle ages, laughter was always officially discounted as inferior to seriousness. Aristotle asserted in Poetics that tragedy deals with the deeds of men who are nobler than ordinary people, whereas comedy those of inferior ones. Because of the influence of this assertion, laughter could not get out of the negative evaluation. In the middle ages in which all areas of life was dominated by christianity, laughter was regarded as taboo more severly. In monasteries and barracks of crusaders, it was even officially banned. Negative opinion against laughter had such a great influence in this period. This tendency to consider laughter as vulgar, whereas honest and serious attitude as noble can still today be found steeped in all the areas of everyday life. To understand this feature of contemporary culture, it is necessary to grasp the meaning of laughter which, being related dialectically with seriousness, constitutes a substantial part of our lives. From antiquity to the present, many philosphers and artists chose laughter as a means of resistance against hypocrisy and repression which can be contained in seriousness. One of the representative examples is the cynic philospher named Diogenes who is renowned for an anecdote of his meeting with Alexander the Great. Peter Sloterdijk regards him as the first philosopher who attempted to resist against the dominant philosophy with satires and biting invectives. The meaning of such a laughter was a sort of resistance not only for the philosophers and artists, but also for the peoples of lower classes who were excluded from the sophisticated culture of dominating classes. The first example of this can be found in a laughter of a maid which aimed at Thales who fell into a well while observing the sky in order to explain the origin of universe and its principle of movement. The provocative laughter which could be heard in almost all carnivals of medieval european countries established itself as a type of resistant culture of lower classes against dominant culture. Such characteristics of laughter can still be found in many contemporary cultural phenomena. Therefore, the inquiry on laughter as a cultural means of resistance against repressive or hypocritical seriousness is absolutely necessary for the explanation of cultural phenomena connected with such problems. In medieval period, discourses on laughter was only partially acknowledged, but in modern times they strengthened themselves slowly and finally made an appearance on the stage of philosophy in the late nineteenth century. As we saw in the inquiry of the first year on this issue, this procedure has developed itself gradually through the thoughts and practices of some philosophers and artists. And in this process, the focus of discussion was moved from irony to laughter. The man who contributed decisively to this transformation was a german philosopher, namely Friedrich Nietzsche. We confirmed the meaningful significance of the concept of laughter by considering the transition of his philosophical idea concerning this problem. This concept exerts increasingly its influence on philosophy throughout the 20th century and in the first decade of the 21st century. Therefore it is very important to examine how laughter is thought and practised by philosophers such as Bergson, Freud, Benjamin, Adorno, Sloterdijk, Zizek etc. Nowadays laughter is given shape in many works of art in various ways. Not only by plastic artists like Picasso and Dali, but also by movie directors like Charlie Chaplin, Roberto Benigni. Even the meaning of laughter itself is dealt with by several artists such as Umberto Eco, Milan Kundera etc. Theses works are very important evidences which make it possible to confirm concretely how laughter is evaluated nowadays.