Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat: Shaftesbury, Horatian Satire, and the Cultural (Ab)uses of Laughter

Abstract

This essay argues that a full understanding of Shaftesbury’s notions of humour and laughter requires due consideration of the different rhetorical situations underlying both his published texts and unpublished manuscripts. Against the background of the Earl’s reading of Horatian satire and irony, it appears that the tensions that pervade Shaftesbury’s views about the several functions of humour and laughter are attributable to the difficulties of practically applying his theoretical assumptions. Envisioning an enlightened, Whig utopia, Shaftesbury’s theory had to stand the test of current political circumstances nevertheless – in a time dominated by party feuds consequent upon the War of the Spanish Succession, his ideal of a mild, constructive satirical laughter cultivated by a learned caste of philosopher-politicians at last turned out to be a largely ineffective weapon of political propaganda.