Abstract
The study interprets and develops Louis Cazamian's theory of humor. It presents the outlines of the theory, which was created in connection with Bergson's general theory of the comic and his remarks on humor.
In the process of zeroing in on Cazamian's conception of the mechanism of humor as a transposition of man's natural reaction to reality into the form of an invented response, the study raises the question of the importance of humor in life. This topic is approached by depicting the evolution of Cazamian's views on the possibility of establishing a "philosophy" of humor, highlighting a gradually emerging belief in the power of humor to free man from a naive view of reality.
The study shows that Cazamian's thinking as regards the philosophy of humor also contains an inadequately expressed tendency to conceive of humor as a way of criti-cizing humanity's rigid approach to reality. The study attempts to highlight and deve-lop this tendency with references to Bergson's emphasis on the critical role of laughter and Cazamian's reflections on the complex scope of the suggestive power of humor.