Home Humor in Chinese Traditions of Thought, Part One: Systematic Reflections in View of Ancient Confucian and Daoist Applications of Humor
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Humor in Chinese Traditions of Thought, Part One: Systematic Reflections in View of Ancient Confucian and Daoist Applications of Humor

  • David Bartosch

    Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, China;

    EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: June 11, 2024
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

I argue that most of the pre-modern Chinese schools of thought contain elements of humor that can be analyzed in a differentiated and systematic manner. This article provides the first of two parts of this investigation. As a preparatory part, its scope is outlined on the basis of a traditional ideograph that represents the basic Chinese schools of thought as a whole. This is followed by an introduction to the present analytical framework. It is shown that it is compatible with the most basic ancient and modern concepts in the Chinese philosophy of humor. Based on this, the investigation turns to the Analects. It is shown that Confucius uses elaborate forms of humor as an allusive manner of teaching. Afterwards, the parallel Confucian refusal of comical entertainment and mass humor is discussed. A comparative discussion of evolved forms of humor in Confucian contexts and the Daoist classic Zhuangzi provides the transition to the more specific perspectives in the narrative of “Huzi, the Face Changer.” This is followed by a further in-depth comparison of Confucius and Zhuangzi’s high-level transformative humor. This leads to the discussion of the shielding function of humor as alluded to in the Daoist story of Hundun in the Zhuangzi.

About the author

David Bartosch

Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, China;

References

Bartosch, David. 2010. “Von der Toleranz zur reziproken Integration des Zuwiderlaufenden: Anmerkungen zur Einheit der drei Lehren des Konfuzianismus, Daoismus und Buddhismus (sān jiào hé yī) während der Míng-Zeit (1368−1644) aus interkultureller Perspektive.” Rundbrief des Lehrstuhls für Religionsphilosophie und vergleichende Religionswissenschaft der TU Dresden 34: 17−18.Search in Google Scholar

Bartosch, David. 2015a. “Tierethik in der chinesischen Tradition.” Coincidentia: Zeitschrift für europäische Geistesgeschichte 6(2): 449−68.Search in Google Scholar

Bartosch, David. 2015b. “Wissendes Nichtwissen” oder “gutes Wissen”? Zum philosophischen Denken von Nicolaus Cusanus und Wáng Yángmíng. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink.10.30965/9783846758472Search in Google Scholar

Bartosch, David. 2017. “Explicit and Implicit Aspects of Confucian Education.” Asian Studies 5(2): 87−112. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.2.87 – 11210.4312/as.2017.5.2.87-112Search in Google Scholar

Bartosch, David. 2018. “Tierbilder und Tierethik in China.” Coincidentia: Zeitschrift für europäische Geistesgeschichte 9(2): 361−83.Search in Google Scholar

Bartosch, David. 2022a. “Toward Moral Sublimity: Elements of a Theory of Humor.” The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook 3: 25−61.10.1515/phhumyb-2022-002Search in Google Scholar

Bartosch, David. 2022b. “Transcultural Philosophy and Its Foundations in Implicate Logic.” Asian Studies 10(3): 107−26. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2022.10.3.107 – 12610.4312/as.2022.10.3.107-126Search in Google Scholar

Bartosch, David. 2022c. “Zum Beginn abendländisch-chinesischer Tierphilosophie: Reflexionen zu einem wiederentdeckten Text.” Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie 47(3): 433 – 53. https://doi.org/10.12857/AZP.910470320 – 610.5771/0340-7969-2022-3-391Search in Google Scholar

Busch, Wilhelm. 1886. Kritik des Herzens. 4. Auflage, München: Fr. Bassermann.Search in Google Scholar

Chan, Shirley. 2011. “Identifying Daoist Humour: Reading the Liezi.” In Humor in Chinese Life and Letters: Classical and Traditional Approaches, edited by Jocelyn Chey and Jessica Milner Davis, 73−88. Hongkong: Hongkong University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Chan, Shirley. 2022. “Humor as Rhetorical Discourse in Ancient Chinese Philosophy: The Works of Mencius.” In Humor in Asian Cultures: Tradition and Context, edited by Jessica Milner Davis. Routledge Studies on Asia in the World; Humor in Asian Cultures, 19 – 39. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Chey, Jocelyn. 2011. “Youmo and the Chinese Sense of Humour.” In Humor in Chinese Life and Letters: Classical and Traditional Approaches, edited by Jocelyn Chey and Jessica Milner Davis, 1−29. Hongkong: Hongkong University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Chey, Jocelyn, and Jessica Milner Davis, eds. 2011. Humor in Chinese Life and Letters: Classical and Traditional Approaches. Hongkong: Hongkong University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Davis, Jessica Milner. 2011. “The Theory of Humours and Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Preamble to Chapter 3.” In Humor in Chinese Life and Letters: Classical and Traditional Approaches, edited by Jocelyn Chey and Jessica Milner Davis, 31−35. Hongkong: Hongkong University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Forke, Alfred. 1964. Geschichte der mittelalterlichen chinesischen Philosophie. 2. Auflage. Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiet der Auslandskunde 41: Reihe B, Völkerkunde, Kulturgeschichte und Sprachen, Band 21. Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Freyne, Patrick. 2022. “Rowan Atkinson: ‘In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything’: The actor talks to Patrick Freyne about Mr Bean and Blackadder, cancel culture and his first starring TV role in decades.” The Irish Times, 18 June, 2022. Accessed 23 July, 2022. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2022/06/18/rowan-atkinson-in-a-proper-free-society-you-should-be-allowed-to-make-jokes-about-absolutely-anything/Search in Google Scholar

Hall, David L. 1989. “Dancing at the Crucifixion.” Philosophy East and West 39(3): 319 – 25.10.2307/1399452Search in Google Scholar

Harbsmeier, Christoph. 1989. “Humor in Ancient Chinese Philosophy.” Philosophy East and West 39(3): 289−310.10.2307/1399450Search in Google Scholar

Harbsmeier, Christoph. 1990. “Confucius Ridens: Humor in The Analects.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 50(1): 131−61.10.2307/2719225Search in Google Scholar

Heidegger, Martin. 1977. Sein und Zeit. Unveränderter Text mit Randbemerkungen aus dem “Hüttenexemplar”, herausgegeben von Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. Gesamtausgabe; I. Abteilung: Veröffentlichte Schriften 1914 – 1970, Band 2. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann.Search in Google Scholar

Heidegger, Martin. 2001. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. 21st edition. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

“humor (n.),” n.d. Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed 17 July, 2022. https://www. etymonline.com/word/humor.Search in Google Scholar

[Jiang Wenye] 江文也. 2008. 孔子的乐论 [Confucius’s Theory of Music]. 杨儒宾 (译). 儒学与东亚文明研究丛书. 上海: 华东师范大学出版社.Search in Google Scholar

Kao, George. 1974. Chinese Wit and Humor. New York: Sterling.Search in Google Scholar

Kapp, Ernst. 1845. Philosophische oder Vergleichende allgemeine Erdkunde als wissenschaftliche Darstellung der Erdverhältnisse und des Menschenlebens nach ihrem innern Zusammenhang, 2 Bände. Braunschweig: George Westermann.Search in Google Scholar

Knechtges, David R. 1970/71. “Wit, Humor, and Satire in Early Chinese Literature (to A. D. 220).” Monumenta Serica 29: 79−98.10.1080/02549948.1970.11744985Search in Google Scholar

Kupperman, Joel J. 1989. “Not in so Many Words: Chuang Tzu’s Strategies of Communication.” Philosophy East and West 39(3): 311−17.10.2307/1399451Search in Google Scholar

Kwee San Liat [Kwee Swan Liat]. 1960. “The Marginal Man: His Role in History and in Future Cooperation.” In Ethical Values in International Decision-Making: The Conference of June, 16 – 20, 1958, edited by B. Landheer, G van der Molen, B. H. M. Vlekke et al. Stichting Grotius Seminarium, 66−75. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.10.1007/978-94-011-9066-4_5Search in Google Scholar

Li, Wenchao. 2000. Die christliche China-Mission im 17. Jahrhundert. Verständnis, Unverständnis, Missverständnis: Eine geistesgeschichtliche Studie zum Christentum, Buddhismus und Konfuzianismus. Studia Leibnitiana Supplementa, Band 32. Stuttgart: Steiner.Search in Google Scholar

Liao, Chao Chih. 2001. Taiwanese Perceptions of Humor: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Taipei: Crane.Search in Google Scholar

Liao, Chao Chih. 2003. “Humor Versus Huaji.” Journal of Language and Linguistics 2(1): 25−46.Search in Google Scholar

Lin Yutang, ed. 1956. The Wisdom of India. London: Michael Joseph.Search in Google Scholar

Lipps, Theodor. 1898. Komik und Humor: Eine psychologisch-ästhetische Untersuchung. Beiträge zur Ästhetik 6. Hamburg: Leopold Voss.Search in Google Scholar

Löwenstein, Adolph. 1877. Witz und Humor: Theorie und Praxis. Stuttgart: Richter and Kappler.Search in Google Scholar

Lunyu 論語, n.d. Ctext.org. Accessed 12 July, 2022. https://ctext.org/analects.Search in Google Scholar

“[mo] 默,” n.d. Zdic.net. Accessed 17 July, 2022. https://www.zdic.net/hans/默.Search in Google Scholar

Moorhead, John. 2006. “The Word modernus.Latomus 65(2): 425−33.Search in Google Scholar

Morreall, John. 1989. “The Rejection of Humor in Western Thought.” Philosophy East and West 39(3): 243−65.10.2307/1399447Search in Google Scholar

Mühlhahn, Klaus. 2019. Making China Modern: From the Great Qing to Xi Jinping. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/978067491606710.4159/9780674916067Search in Google Scholar

Needham, Joseph. 1977. Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 2: History of Scientific Thought. 5th edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Nicolaus de Cusa. 1982. De venatione sapientiae. In Nicolai de Cusa opera omnia iussu et auctoritate academiae litterarum Heidelbergensis ad codicum fidem edita, vol. XII: De venatione sapientiae. De apice theoriae. Ediderunt commentariisque illustraverunt Raymundus Klibansky et Iohannes Gerhardus Senger, 1−113. Hamburgi: Meiner.Search in Google Scholar

Peng, Bei. 2019. Musik als Harmonie von Himmel und Erde: Zhū Zǎiyu` (1536−1611) und seine Musiktheorie. Doctoral dissertation, Universität Heidelberg. Accessed 19 July, 2022. https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/26815/.Search in Google Scholar

Qian Suoqiao. 2007. “Translating ‘Humor’ into Chinese.” Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 20(3): 277−95.10.1515/HUMOR.2007.014Search in Google Scholar

Rea, Christopher. 2015. The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.10.1525/california/9780520283848.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Scheler, Max. 1921. Vom Ewigen im Menschen, Band 1: Religiöse Erneuerung. Leipzig: Der Neue Geist.Search in Google Scholar

Shijing 詩經, n.d., Ctext.org. Accessed 16 July, 2022. https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry.Search in Google Scholar

Ting Liang. 2022. “Towards a Semiotics of Chinese Characters.” Signs and Media 1(2): 11 – 141. https://doi.org/10.1163/25900323 – 1234001710.1163/25900323-12340017Search in Google Scholar

Tiquia, Rey. 2011. “The Qi That Got Lost in Translation: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Humour and Healing.” In Humor in Chinese Life and Letters: Classical and Traditional Approaches, edited by Jocelyn Chey and Jessica Milner Davis, 37−47. Hongkong: Hongkong University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Xu, Weihe. 2011. “The Classical Confucian Concepts of Human Emotion and Proper Humour.” In Humor in Chinese Life and Letters: Classical and Traditional Approaches, edited by Jocelyn Chey and Jessica Milner Davis, 49−71. Hongkong: Hongkong University Press.Search in Google Scholar

[Yao Jiani] 姚佳妮. 2012. “先秦道儒散文的幽默风格比较 [A Comparison of the Humorous Styles of Pre-Qin Daoist and Confucian Prose].” 韩山师范学院学报 Journal of Hanshan Normal University 33(4): 66−71.Search in Google Scholar

“[you] 幽,” n.d. Zdic.net. Accessed 17 July, 2022. https://www.zdic.net/hans/幽Search in Google Scholar

Yue, Xiao Dong. 2010. “Exploration of Chinese Humor: Historical Review, Empirical Findings, and Critical Reflections.” Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 23(3): 403−20.10.1515/humr.2010.018Search in Google Scholar

[Yue Xiaodong] 岳晓东. 2014. “儒、释、道文化对幽默的态度 [Attitudes of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism Toward Humor].” 心理学探新 Psychological Exploration 34(1): 15−18.Search in Google Scholar

Zhouyi 周易, n.d. Ctext.org. Accessed 19 July, 2022. https://ctext.org/book-of-changes.Search in Google Scholar

Zhuangzi 莊子, n.d. Ctext.org. Accessed 8 July, 2022. https://ctext.org/zhuangzi.Search in Google Scholar

Ziporyn, Brook, translator. 2009. Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings with Selections from Traditional Commentaries. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2024-06-11
Published in Print: 2024-06-11

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Titlepages
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Articles
  5. Democritus, The Laughing Philosopher
  6. The Contemptuous Laughter of Democritus and Nietzsche
  7. A Joke: On the Plurality of Worlds and Ostrichist
  8. Joke Capital vs. Punching Up/Punching Down: Accounting for the Ethical Relation between Joker and Target
  9. Humanistic Ethics of Humor: The Problematics of Punching Up and Kicking Down
  10. “You Must Be Joking!”: Theory, Religion, and The Domestication of the Ludic
  11. Humor in Chinese Traditions of Thought, Part One: Systematic Reflections in View of Ancient Confucian and Daoist Applications of Humor
  12. Discussion: Short Article for Further Debate
  13. Discussion: Short Article for Further Debate   Edited by John Marmysz
  14. The Shared Presupposition Norm of Joking: A Philosophical Exploration
  15. “I Finally Got the Joke”
  16. Do Joke-Telling Norms Apply to Laughtivism?
  17. “I’m Only Human”: A Self-Referential Sense of Humor and Meaningful Living
  18. Philosophical Satire and Criticism
  19. Philosophical Satire and Criticism   Edited by Steven Gimbel
  20. Recaptioning Cartoons from Historical Turkish Humor Magazines as Feminist Media Activism: The Case of Boşboğaz
  21. Humor in Philosophy Education
  22. Humor in Philosophy Education   Edited by Christine A. James
  23. How Can Philosophy Improve Your Sense of Humor?
  24. Symposium
  25. Symposium   Edited by Steven Gimbel   Dustin Peone. Making Philosophy Laugh: Humor, Irony, and Folly in Philosophical Thought. Cascade Books, 2023. pp. 158.   Critics
  26. In Search of a Lost Philosophical Humor
  27. The Moment of Laughter
  28. On Making Philosophy Laugh
  29. “Where the enemy is mighty, one must be clever”: Peone, Vico, and Guareschi on Power in Humor
  30. Author’s Response
  31. Author’s Response
  32. Humor Resartus
  33. Book Reviews
  34. Book Reviews   Edited by Lydia Amir With Pierre Destrée (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy) and John Marmysz (Modern and Contemporary Philosophy)
  35. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  36. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  37. Call for Papers
Downloaded on 30.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/phhumyb-2024-0007/html
Scroll to top button