Ridere e piangere tra Medioevo e Rinascimento. La parola ai filosofi.

Laughter and Tears between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance offers a philosophical-historical investigation into the meaning and function of emotional expressions—specifically laughter and weeping—within the intellectual and cultural contexts of the 12th to 16th centuries. Far from being merely spontaneous reactions, these affective phenomena are examined as revealing dimensions of the human condition, the cosmic order, and spiritual dynamics, acquiring significant speculative, anthropological, and theological value in the authors considered.\r\nFrom Augustine’s ambivalent understanding of laughter as a potentially disordered gesture, to Hildegard of Bingen’s mystical tears, and on to the dialectic of joy and sorrow in the writings of Francis of Assisi and Bonaventure, the volume traces a path through monastic, scholastic, and humanist traditions. Special attention is given to the interplay of pathos and rhetoric, as seen in the obscene wordplay of Giovanni of Jandun’s Quaestiones, and in Benedict XII’s reflections on eschatological beatitude expressed through tears.\r\nThe tears of Petrarch and the laughter of Ficino, Alberti, and Giordano Bruno ultimately lead toward a more modern conception of emotion, mediated by language and philosophical reflection—where laughter becomes a sign of knowledge and metaphysical irony, and weeping reflects the soul’s longing for the infinite. Despite the diversity of figures and contexts, the volume presents a coherent portrait of affectivity as philosophically articulated, existentially experienced, and spiritually transfigured throughout the medieval and Renaissance periods.\r\nThis volume contributes to current scholarship on the history of emotions and on philosophical anthropology in the Middle Ages and early modernity, offering original insights into the relationship between affective expression and the construction of meaning within theological, ethical, and aesthetic frameworks.