Vom „Risiko der Lächerlichkeit“ zur Kritik des Komischen – Plessners Grenzen der Gemeinschaft in komiktheoretischer Perspektive

Abstract

From the “risk of ridicule” to the “critique of comic” – Plessners’s Limits of Community from a comic-theoretical point of view. This paper examines the theoretical implications of Plessner’s concept of the “risk of ridicule,” which, in The Limits of Community (1924), refers to the danger of social loss of face – a danger that, according to Plessner, can never be fully avoided. The first part of the paper argues that this pessimistic definition of the ridicule stands in remarkable contrast to Plessner’s later theoretical remarks in Laughing and Crying (1941), yet already reveals a high degree of familiarity with relevant theories of laughter and comedy. In critical distinction from Helmut Lethen’s re-reading of Plessner, in which he accuses Plessner of being overly concerned with “the risk of ridicule,” the second part of this article shows that Plessner draws attention here to an often-overlooked dimension of the comic, one that proves highly relevant in light of recent debates on cancel culture. To think of society from the perspective of the “risk of ridicule,” means to insist that the appropriate balance between the need for protection and aggressiveness, dignity and ridicule, must be constantly renegotiated.