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IV – 12.2 Laughter and the recognition of the human form
To start with the beginning, in other words with laughter of a small child and by other common things: in an attempt to be struck with amazement by what is ordinary, following the proposal of Chinese wisdom (“an ordinary man is amazed by what is extraordinary, whereas a wise man is amazed by ordinary things”) – but the wise man, as we will see, has an ambiguous relationship with laughter…, it is stated:
 That laughter is the opposite of crying. Weeping refers to escaping or deceiving reality when laughter is a sign of reverting contentment. The pleasure of recognizing the face of the mother first of all, who awakens and literally provokes the laughter of her child when talking to him, kissing and rocking him (repeating identical words, kisses, tickles, making him experience rhythms. The young mother discovers what makes her baby laugh by being recognised by him. “Baby-talk”, playing with him, consists of using simple and repetitive signs likely to be recognised and allowing oneself to be recognised. When one plays hide-and-seek with a small child – a game in which all adults naturally engage to draw the attention of his Majesty the Baby, as if it was that the baby cried for – he starts laughing when realizing the reappearance of the hidden face and laughs more loudly every time the truth of his expectation is proven correct. Whereas crying refers to escaping reality or to a thwarted expectation, laughter is a sign of a pleasant world that returns and of a fulfilled expectation. It can thus be seen that laughter is mostly engaged in the recognition of the human form and in the experience of society.
That laughter is a commotion giving pleasure. An ordinary example: “Someone” (an unknown individual to the person laughing) slips on a banana-skin. Laughter. But laughter also provoked by a funny incident. Rupture. Denial of an unfulfilled expectation: reassurance. Disappointment that gives pleasure. A sudden rupture of the continuity or a deceived expectation creates a surprise-effect which produces laughter.
Surprise of a fulfilled expectation: learning; denial of an unfulfilled expectation: reassurance.
That the commonly seeked, wished for, programmed “mood for laughter” is the sustenance that allows us to get through the day, to “survive” :
“Car nous avons naturellement telle affection à réjouissance que tous nos desseins y prétandent comme à un souverain bien. [Réjouissance est privation d’annuy et facherie, laquelle nous tachons par tous moyens d’éviter.] Dont nous voyons qu’on cherche mille sortes de passetams, et que chacun les ressoit volontiers. De là est venue l’invention des jeux publics et privés, des triomphes, banquets, farces, comédies, morisques, mascarades, danses, musiques et toutes autres manières de s’ébaudir.” (Joubert, op. cit. p. 8)
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