Are we responsible for laughing? Suárez on laughter’s voluntariness

In his Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima, Francisco suárez offers a rich account of the psychology and physiology of laughter. Among other claims, he asserts that laughter is a voluntary act, without giving any further explanation. The aim of this paper is to glean from his texts a philosophically compelling argument for this claim. I will claim that for suárez laughter is a commanded act of the will, since it somehow needs the will’s consent to be elicited. This kind of voluntariness is enough to make laughter morally relevant. © 2021 Philosophy Documentation Center. All rights reserved.

Franciscus Suárez in suis Commentariis una cum quaestionibus super Aristotelis libros De Anima psychologiam physiologiamque risus fuse pertractat. Asseritque, praeter alia, risum esse actum voluntarium, verum sine ulla explicatione. Huius articuli scopus est, e Suarezii textibus efficax pro ea sententia argumentum philosophicum extrahere. Auctor sententiam defendit, risum esse actum a voluntate imperatum secundum Suarezii mentem, quandoquidem, ut eliciatur, assensum quandam indiget volutnatis. Qui voluntarii modus ad vim moralem sufficit habendam. © 2021 Philosophy Documentation Center. All rights