Superiority Theory
The superiority theory of humor traces back to Plato and Aristotle, and Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. The general idea is that a person laughs about misfortunes of others (so called schadenfreude), because these misfortunes assert the person's superiority on the background of shortcomings of others.
For Aristotle, we laugh at inferior or ugly individuals, because we feel a joy at feeling superior to them. Socrates was reported by Plato as saying that the ridiculous was characterized by a display of self-ignorance.
Read more about this topic: Theories Of Humor
Famous quotes containing the words superiority and/or theory:
“There is something in us, somehow, that, in the most degraded condition, we snatch at a chance to deceive ourselves into a fancied superiority to others, whom we suppose lower in the scale than ourselves.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.”
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)