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Contents
- University of Michigan Press
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Contents Preface ix part i. the positive thesis 1. Laughter as Superiority 3 Hobbes and Bergson • The Normative Foundation Laughter as a Signal 2. The Elements of Laughter 16 Sociability • Surprise • Playfulness 3. The One Necessary Thing 29 Incongruity and Wordplay Relief and Exuberant Laughter • Innocent Laughter The Absurd and Postmodernism • Self-Deprecatory Humor part ii. the normative thesis 4. Objections to the Normative Thesis 49 The Paradox of Satire • Excessive Laughter The Hobbesian Paradox • Vicious Laughter 5. Comic Virtues and Vices 60 The Rose-Wreath Crown • The Gay Science Comic Norms 6. The Social Virtues 87 Integrity • Moderation Fortitude • Temperance 7. The Charismatic Virtues 108 Grace • Taste • Learning 8. Machine Law 119 Risible Law • Kreimer v. Morristown • The Sick Chickens Case 9. Machine Scholarship 129 Analytical Philosophy • Zombies as Machine Men Machine Political Theory • Baby Selling 10. Machine Art and Machine Cities 143 Machine Art • Machine Cities part iii. the experience of laughter 11. The Battle of the Norms 155 Judgment Errors • Large Numbers Perverse Norms and Factual Errors • Uncertainty 12. Resistance to Laughter 164 Vanity • Acedia • The Cynic The Faustian Bargain • The Puritan 13. The Sociability Thesis 178 Signaling Trustworthiness A Communitarian Perspective 14. Conclusion 191 Life Considered as a Fine Art The Dream of a Uni‹ed Field Notes 201 Bibliography 219 Index 235 contents viii ...