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:
“Obscurantism is the academic theorist’s revenge on society for having consigned him or her to relative obscurity—a way of proclaiming one’s superiority in the face of one’s diminished influence.”
—David Lehman (b. 1948)
“The theory of truth is a series of truisms.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)