Two out of Three for Bergson's Humor --- In a preceding HT I quoted Bergson. Biljana asked whether I agreed with the quote and my opinion on the three other roles that humor may play – solidarity, bridging ,and defusing tension.

I would be guilty of the informal fallacy of “quote-mining” if I did not provide a context for my use of the quote and its importance to Bergson’s representation of humor.

To understand Bergson, and the acerbity, and even inflexibility inflexibility of this quote, it is helpful to clarify the topic of the essay, Bergson’s Jewish tradition, and the tenor of his times. In writing the essay his intention was always to understand the psychology and methodology of “The Comic”. His essay does not define humor but seeks to understand its methodology.

In defiance of the Nazis after their conquest of France, Bergson insisted on wearing a yellow star to show his solidarity with other French Jews.

He demonstrated, by his life, humor’s capacity for bridging the divide. He deployed this in his diplomatic mission to overcome US neutrality to support the resistance of the French to Nazism.

Bergson understood that humor may also be used not to defuse, but to infuse resistance to the oppressive occupation faced by European nations.

Bergson checks the humor boxes of solidarity and bridging but I must concede my argument as a fail by Bergson to use humor as a diffusion of tension.

To his credit , Bergson checks two out of the three humor boxes and may be forgiven for omitting the third.

Source author: John D. Hipsley jhipsley@igc.org