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Abstract
Laughter in the comic theory of the Aufklärung (1725-1770). This article looks at the different conceptions of laughter in the Aufklärung' s theory of comedy. Gottsched instrumentalised an exclusive laughter aimed at forcing the individual to comply with the standards of behaviour that the other members of the group obeyed ; thus laughter has the role of control and (reeducation. For Möser, by relaxing the spectators, laughter creates subjects who are more able to fulfill their daily tasks in the service of the state and the interests of society. Far from having a diabolical origin, as the churches claimed, laughter was, according to Lessing, a human characteristic ; it reinforces social ties, shows how to overcome vanity and faults by helping others to rebuild themselves, not by means of humiliation or punishment but by a pedagogy of openness and relativity. These conceptions, which reflect each theorist's vision of humans, also reveal the type of human relationships they desired.
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