Bergson

Christine Durniat

Bergson says that we laugh at the spontaneity of life, as in when we see something that we were not expecting. Hobbes talks more of laughter being something associated with disdain, that we laugh at those who we know to be beneath us simply because we can. I personally agree with Bergson. I have read a longer excerpt of the Leviathan and I know that Hobbes was a very cynical man. I also have been told that he was certifiably crazy. I do not think that people laugh at other people because they observe, “the imperfections of other men” but rather that people can see the imperfections of other men as the imperfections that they too have and so they are also laughing at themselves. Also, Hobbes presents his argument in such a way that I can only think to call in vulgar. He calls laughter “grimaces”. Not once in my life have I grimaced and been in a state that I would laugh at the same time. It is also to be noted that the human psyche has a great capacity to understand facial expressions because back before the time of language that was the only way our early ancestors knew how each other felt. A grimace is not a feeling I want to join in with someone. In fact if I see someone grimacing, I would more than likely walk away, but if someone was laughing I would want to share in that feeling. Someone who can call laughter a grimace probably does not laugh often enough. Bergson also says that we laugh at other people, but it is not in spite. He says we laugh at, the “mechanical inelasticity” of humans. Bergson’s argument does not read in such a way that I come away from it wanting to cry (which is how I felt after reading the Leviathan) and is therefore, easier to connect with. It is easier to picture oneself in a situation that Bergson describes than it is in one that Hobbes describes. Both men are talking about laughing at another person, but it is in the nature of the laugh that is important here: Bergson suggests that we laugh WITH the person; Hobbes suggests we laugh AT the person. It is always better to laugh with than to laugh at.