Le mouvement du rire chez Kant

Résumé En

The movement of laughter in Kant. We look at Kant's analysis of laughter in Metaphysic of Morals, in Anthopology from a Pragmatic Point of View and in particular in the first section of Critique of Judgement, which ends by examining the different functions of laughter. For Kant, laughter is primarily a beneficial principle, as it strengthens the link between body and soul ; for his definition of laughter replaces the usual idea of comic disparity by a temporally condensed sequence of expectation and disappointment which, by suddenly freeing tension, produces physical well-being. Thus for Kant, laughter possesses a therapeutic value. But laughter is also part of a more general reflection on aesthetic judgement. If laughter exposes us to the "absurdity", or the pure "nothingness" of senses, it corresponds to one of the dimensions of the creative potential of genius, for genius implies both the tendency to absurdity and its correction. Finally, laughter is close to music for the two combine in the expulsion of the hermeneutic process towards a finite void.