Play a Little! Aristotle on Eutrapelia

• Published in: The Review of metaphysics Vol. 74; no. 4; pp. 465 - 495
• Main Author: Carli, Silvia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington The Philosophy Education Society, Inc 01.06.2021; Philosophy Education Society, Inc; Review of Metaphysics
• Subjects: Book publishing; Cognates; Credibility; Friendship; Humor; Jokes; Police; Wit and humor; Greece; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 0034-6632; 2154-1302; 2154-1302
• DOI: 10.1353/rvm.2021.0000

The standard interpretation of eutrapelia is advocated by William Fortenbaugh,2 whose translation of the term as "wittiness" is also customary.3 Fortenbaugh writes that eutrapelia is a "readiness to enjoy a good joke, even when the joke is directed toward [oneself] . . . and . . . the ability to make a good joke"4-with particular emphasis on "jeering abuse (skonima and its cognates)"5-provided that the banter is appropriate rather than crude and demeaning.6 Howard Curzer's interpretation can be considered a variant of the standard reading of eutrapelia because it assumes that this virtue deals with the activity of joking and being humorous.7 Specifically, Curzer restricts the domain of eutrapeliato certain kinds of jokes, namely, "putdowns and barbs,"8 that ridicule, belittle, or otherwise offend their target. [...]Curzer understands eutrapelia as the ability to police the moral boundaries of a narrow domain of humor. [...]he proposes that the two vicious types associated with this virtue, namely, buffoons (böinolochoi) and rustics (.agroikoi), err only with respect to demeaning jokes, but are otherwise perfectly capable of engaging in, and appreciating, (nonhateful) humor.11 I argue, by contrast, that eutrapelia cannot be reduced either to humor production and appreciation or to sensitivity to the hurtfulness of jokes. [...]NE 4.8 analyzes eutrapelia, which codifies the proper way of interacting with others during that part of human life devoted to rest, which we spend in playful amusement (paidia).