Sonja Madeleine Tanner is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and the author of In Praise of Plato's Poetic Imagination.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionThe Superiority Theory of LaughterPlayful and Consequential LaughterThe Incongruity Theory of LaughterThe Breakdown1. The Apology of Socrates: Is Socrates a Comical Hero?The Comical ApologySocrates and the Homeric HeroSocrates and the Traits of Comical HeroesHumanity as Laughable and Self-Directed Laughter2. The Laches’s Comical Structure and "The Refined Thinkers Who Are Really Poor"The Laches’s Comical StructureLysimachus as a Comical FigureNicias as a Comical FigureStesilaus as a Comical FigureLaches as a Comical FigureCourage, Laughter, and Self-KnowledgeConclusion3. Tumbling Down To Earth: Laughter, Limitation, and Self-Knowledge in Plato’s Charmides Laughter on the BenchTragic and Comic LaughterSocratic Versus Critian Sophrosyne: Theory and PracticeConclusion4. Naming the Nameless: Logos, Laughter, and Self-ForgettingLaughter and Logos in the CratylusLaughter and False Speaking in the EuthydemusLogos and the Satirical5. Bawdy Politics: Satyrical Laughter and Self-Knowledge in the SymposiumAristophanes’s HiccupsSocrates as SatyrConclusionConclusion Poneria, Self-Knowledge, and Comical, Platonic OptimismNotesWorks ConsultedIndex

Sonja Madeleine Tanner is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and the author of In Praise of Plato's Poetic Imagination.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionThe Superiority Theory of LaughterPlayful and Consequential LaughterThe Incongruity Theory of LaughterThe Breakdown1. The Apology of Socrates: Is Socrates a Comical Hero?The Comical ApologySocrates and the Homeric HeroSocrates and the Traits of Comical HeroesHumanity as Laughable and Self-Directed Laughter2. The Laches’s Comical Structure and "The Refined Thinkers Who Are Really Poor"The Laches’s Comical StructureLysimachus as a Comical FigureNicias as a Comical FigureStesilaus as a Comical FigureLaches as a Comical FigureCourage, Laughter, and Self-KnowledgeConclusion3. Tumbling Down To Earth: Laughter, Limitation, and Self-Knowledge in Plato’s Charmides Laughter on the BenchTragic and Comic LaughterSocratic Versus Critian Sophrosyne: Theory and PracticeConclusion4. Naming the Nameless: Logos, Laughter, and Self-ForgettingLaughter and Logos in the CratylusLaughter and False Speaking in the EuthydemusLogos and the Satirical5. Bawdy Politics: Satyrical Laughter and Self-Knowledge in the SymposiumAristophanes’s HiccupsSocrates as SatyrConclusionConclusion Poneria, Self-Knowledge, and Comical, Platonic OptimismNotesWorks ConsultedIndex

Sonja Madeleine Tanner is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and the author of In Praise of Plato's Poetic Imagination.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionThe Superiority Theory of LaughterPlayful and Consequential LaughterThe Incongruity Theory of LaughterThe Breakdown1. The Apology of Socrates: Is Socrates a Comical Hero?The Comical ApologySocrates and the Homeric HeroSocrates and the Traits of Comical HeroesHumanity as Laughable and Self-Directed Laughter2. The Laches’s Comical Structure and "The Refined Thinkers Who Are Really Poor"The Laches’s Comical StructureLysimachus as a Comical FigureNicias as a Comical FigureStesilaus as a Comical FigureLaches as a Comical FigureCourage, Laughter, and Self-KnowledgeConclusion3. Tumbling Down To Earth: Laughter, Limitation, and Self-Knowledge in Plato’s Charmides Laughter on the BenchTragic and Comic LaughterSocratic Versus Critian Sophrosyne: Theory and PracticeConclusion4. Naming the Nameless: Logos, Laughter, and Self-ForgettingLaughter and Logos in the CratylusLaughter and False Speaking in the EuthydemusLogos and the Satirical5. Bawdy Politics: Satyrical Laughter and Self-Knowledge in the SymposiumAristophanes’s HiccupsSocrates as SatyrConclusionConclusion Poneria, Self-Knowledge, and Comical, Platonic OptimismNotesWorks ConsultedIndex