Humor as part of a life philosophy: a look at Yeh Hai-Yen’s interpretation of the Zhuangzi

Abstract

Humor is an indispensible part of life as it makes life bearable in the hardest of times. However, sometimes humor can be uplifting while other times it is debasing. This paper would like to take a look at the uplifting aspect of humor in The Zhuang Zi. It covers how humor can be considered part of a life philosophy outlines how the humor in the Zhuangzi is used as part of a holistic understanding of existence. In doing so, this paper looks at Yeh Hai-Yen’s notion of what makes Zhuangzi’s thinking on par with a life philosophy. Yeh is a modern-day Taiwanese scholar whose book The Zhuangzi and Life Philosophy goes over what differentiates the thinking in The Zhuangzi from traditional rational thought inherent in western philosophy. This paper goes over the three theories of humor from a western perspective, superiority, relief, and incongruity as well as looks at Lin Yutang’s analysis of what was considered humor in ancient China. This paper concludes that Zhuang Zi’s wit and insight comes from developing an ‘irrational’ approach to life, which is conducive to the incongruity theory of humor.