"Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be"

William Hazlitt observes a distinct trait that sets humans apart from other animals: the unique capacity to laugh and to weep. Laughter and weeping are not just simple emotional responses; they are deeply connected to how humans perceive and process the world. Hazlitt connects these expressions to the human ability to recognize a discrepancy between reality and ideals, between what is and what ought to be.

Laughter often emerges when expectations collide with reality in an unexpected or incongruous way. A joke works because it subverts a listener’s presumption; slapstick is amusing when the usual order is turned upside down. Such humor arises from discerning that things are not as they are “meant” to be, according to the norms or patterns our minds construct. Our recognition of that gap, that absurdity, prompts laughter.

Weeping, on the other hand, is often born from the pain or sorrow we feel when witnessing suffering, injustice, loss, or failure. The root is similar: pain arises when there is an apparent gap between how things are and how they should be, when kindness fails to triumph, or happiness is marred by tragedy. We mourn not just the present fact of loss, but the dream of what might have been, the hope of something better or more just.

Animals may feel pleasure or distress, but they do not reflect on the moral or existential fitness of their circumstances. Humans, gifted, or burdened, with self-consciousness and imagination, dwell not just in the present moment but in possible worlds. Our intellect lets us imagine ideals, picture alternative outcomes, or believe in justice, kindness, and beauty, and thus we are sensitive to the yawning gulf that can exist between these imagined possibilities and the reality before us. Laughter and weeping indicate our uniquely human engagement with this chasm, making us creatures not only of sense and instinct, but of judgment, hope, and longing.