Hobbes. No, Bergson! No, Hobbes! UGH!

Ok, out of the two, Hobbes and Bergson, I cannot decide. On the one hand, I will be completely honest and admit that I laugh at people who I feel are inferior to me. I see someone make a dumb decision or say something completely ridiculous and I shake my head and laugh. That's the Hobbes theory in action. Hobbes says that laughter is caused "by observing the imperfections of other men." Even in television we see characters that are inferior to others due to lack of intelligence or skills. That is because it is funny. So I think that in many cases Hobbes is 100% right.

On the other hand, however, Bergson describes laughter as a result of life's "little surprises." We laugh at things we don't expect. For example, in the film Get Smart, Dwayne Johnson's character, a kick ass agent for a government defense team called "Control", is returning from being out in the field and strutting his stuff. Yeah, he's totally cool, muscles, clean cut, all man and then some. So he walks into the office, blows a kiss to the secretary, and then BAM! He slams right into the door frame! Hilarious! This is because we expect someone as cool as this guy to be smooth. He's a Control Agent for cryin' out loud! There's humor in that because we don't expect it. So in some cases Bergson is 100% right.

Well, if you can do basic math, you'll have realized that I have given away 200% of rightness. I know what you're thinking "Paul, that's dumb! Pick a side!" Ok, I'll pick, but only because you asked me to. I'm going to have to go with Hobbes as the overall winner on this one. Why? Bergson makes a good argument with the whole "surprises = laughter" thing, but when you think about it, normally the "surprises" that make us laugh are also things that make us feel superior to that individual. "Wait! That's like what Hobbes said!" Good job my fellow bloggers, you're catching on quite quickly! Let's go back to my Get Smart example from before. So Dwayne Johnson runs into this door frame and you laugh because you don't expect it, but why don't you expect it? Oh that's right, because any normal person can walk through a door without running into the frame. So you then laugh and think "I'm better than him because even if I'm not a Control Agent, I can still walk through doors." Well, maybe not those exact words, but you get my drift.

Overall I think both writers make excellent points, however, I think that Hobbes's theory is applicable to Bergson's theory making it superior to Bergson's.