Abstract

The article deals with Plato’s analysis of the phenomenon of comedy in the Philebus (48a-50e). The laughter aroused by comic spectacles is an example of a purely psychic pleasure mixed with pain. The analysis is articulated in three stages: a) 48b-c: starting from envy (φθόνος) as a form of pain of the soul, it is shown that one can experience pleasure in the face of the ills of those whom we envy; b) 48c-49c: the ridicule (γελοῖον) of the comic characters stems from the fact that they don’t know themselves (against the Delphic precept); c) 49c-50a: even when it is the turn of our friends to be ridiculous, a pain close to envy is mixed to the pleasure of laughter. The article ends by showing the two registers of Plato’s argumentation: to the “hedonist” argument that condemns comedy as a source of pain is interweaved the condemnation of “anti-Delphic” self-ignorance.