Plato's Laughter: Socrates as Satyr and Comical Hero

by Sonja Madeleine Tanner

Book Overview

Plato was described as a boor and it was said that he never laughed out loud. Yet his dialogues abound with puns, jokes, and humor. Sonja Madeleine Tanner argues that in Plato's dialogues Socrates plays a comical hero who draws heavily from the tradition of comedy in ancient Greece, but also reforms laughter to be applicable to all persons and truly shaming to none. Socrates introduces a form of self-reflective laughter that encourages, rather than...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1438467362
• ISBN13: 9781438467368
• Release Date: July 2018
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"