Laughter in Spartan society

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Abstract

Aristotle presented m an not only as a political anim al but also as a laughing an im al. 1 These characteristics of m ankind are closely interconnected: Both of them stem from the sociable nature of the hum an being. Laughter is an aspect of hum an behaviour closely associated with m any realms of social life, a social phenom enon par excellence. T he French philosopher H enri Bergson aptly rem arked that, in order to understand laughter, we m ust examine it in its natural environm ent, which is society 2 I t may be justifiable to invert Bergson’s rem ark (or ra ther to complete it) and to assert that, in order to understand a certain society, it is im portan t to examine its laughter. T he purpose of this paper is to analyse the various aspects and functions of laughter in Spartan society.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationClassical Sparta
Subtitle of host publicationTechniques behind her Success
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages1-25
Number of pages25
ISBN (Electronic)9781317802341
ISBN (Print)0415003393
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2014

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 1989 Anton Powell.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities

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