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33. - Cheerfulness

from C

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

By
Valtteri Viljanen
Edited by
Karolina Hübner  and
Justin Steinberg
Karolina Hübner
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Justin Steinberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

According to Spinoza, there are three primary affects: joy, sadness, and desire, from which “the rest arise” (E3p11s). We feel joy when our intrinsic power is increased or aided (E3p11). There are two basic kinds of joy: pleasure (titillatio) and cheerfulness (hilaritas) (E3p11s). While “pleasure [is] ascribed to a man when one part … is affected more than the rest, … cheerfulness [is] ascribed to him when all are equally affected” (E3p11s). Given that maintaining a certain ratio of motion and rest is essential to humans who consist of many different parts, pleasures affecting only some parts – even by increasing their power – may prove to be harmful for the whole (think of, e.g., eating delicious but unhealthy food). But since cheerfulness affects all parts of our bodies and minds equally, thus helping us to maintain our ratio, it “cannot be excessive, but is always good” (E4p42).

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Chapter
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The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon , pp. 85 - 86
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

James, S. (2014). Spinoza, the body, and the good life. In Kisner, M. J. & Youpa, A. (eds.), Essays on Spinoza’s Ethical Theory (pp. 143–59). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kisner, M. J. (2011). Spinoza on Human Freedom: Reason, Autonomy and the Good Life. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeBuffe, M. (2009). The anatomy of the passions. In Koistinen, O. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza’s Ethics (pp. 188–222). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Youpa, A. (2020). The Ethics of Joy: Spinoza on the Empowered Life. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

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