ABSTRACT
Terms for laughter, jeering, ridiculousness appear on the whole more often in Plato’s works than in any other ancient author. Surprisingly, a disproportionately high share of the laughter occurs in Plato’s Republic. The author argues that one of the main reasons there is so much laughter in the Republic is that there is so much absurdity within the discussions there. The author gives a reading of the text that pays especial attention to the appearance of laughter and the laughable in order to build a case to show that Plato subtly gives indications to readers and interpreters of the dialogue that there are several places in his text wherein he is simply not being serious.
