Die Physiologie und Psychologie des Lachens und des Komischen. Ein Beitrag zur experimentellen Psychologie für Naturforscher, Philosophen und gebildete Laien.

Die Physiologie und Psychologie des Lachens und des Komischen by Ewald Hecker offers a rigorous, 19th-century investigation into why humans laugh and what makes things comic. Grounded in early experimental psychology and physiological observation, Hecker — a physician and psychiatrist — dissects laughter's muscular, neural, and affective components while tracing philosophical and clinical dimensions of the comic. Combining careful case studies, observational experiments, and engagement with classical and contemporary thought, Hecker maps laughter as a bodily reflex, a social signal, and a psychological phenomenon. He explores the borderlands between pathology and playfulness, considering how nervous disorders, emotion, and social context shape humor and the perception of the comic. The work illuminates how early scientific methods were applied to questions often left to philosophy or aesthetics, and it captures a formative moment in the history of psychology when physiology and mind were first studied together. Ideal for listeners interested in psychology, history of science, psychiatry, or the mechanics of humor, this audiobook will appeal to scholars and curious laypeople alike who want a thoughtful, historically grounded account of laughter and the comic.