About laughter in Aristotle

Authors

  • Juliana Peixoto Universidade Federal de São Paulo

Keywords:

Laughter. Rest. Life. Mean. Happiness.

Abstract

In this preliminary study, I am interested in examining the role of laughter in Aristotle’s work. There are few occurrences of the term gélôs (laughter) in the Aristotelian corpus, as well as of its verbal and adjective forms. Then, I briefly go through some of these quotations in his biological writings and the Poetics, concentrating mostly on his Nicomachean Ethics. In spite of the absence of an investigation carried on by the Stagirite himself about this issue, widely known is the Aristotelian quote which says that man is the only animal who laughs (cf. De partibus animalium 673a9). This only assertion seems to me sufficiently relevant to undergo a careful exam on that notion in Aristotle’s philosophy, once if laughter doesn’t define what is properly human, it is certainly something which is properly human that makes laughter possible.

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Published

2014-07-01

Issue

No. 12

Section

Dossiê Filosofia Antiga

License

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