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In this splendid philosophical essay written at the dawn of the 20th century, Henri Bergson asks why people laugh and what is the meaning of their laughter. These are three texts chained after the same questions: what is there in language that makes a joke funny? Why does the funny make us laugh?
According to Bergson, one of the functions of humor is to help us not lose our humanity in the age of mechanization. Like other philosophers, writers, and humorists of his time, Bergson was concerned with the man-machine duality. His definition of life as a vital impulse, which could not be defined through reason alone, gives way to his perception of comedy as the experience that gives us relief and keeps us safe from mechanistic alienation.
According to Bergson, one of the functions of humor is to help us not lose our humanity in the age of mechanization. Like other philosophers, writers, and humorists of his time, Bergson was concerned with the man-machine duality. His definition of life as a vital impulse, which could not be defined through reason alone, gives way to his perception of comedy as the experience that gives us relief and keeps us safe from mechanistic alienation.