Herbert Spencer (1820 — 1903) — an English philosopher and sociologist, creator of the system of evolutionary philosophy. The collection of the Republican Scientific Medical Library holds his work “Tears, Laughter and Grace” (Saint Peterburg, 1898), based on an essay on the physiology of laughter and works on the expression of emotions. Spencer proposed a psychophysiological approach to basic human manifestations, explaining them by the laws of the distribution of nervous energy and evolution.
At the basis of the theory of laughter is the law of conservation and transformation of energy. Any experience generates nervous force, which must be spent: move into other thoughts and emotions, go to internal organs, or exit through the motor system. Laughter occurs with a descending incongruity — when consciousness mobilizes energy to perceive something important, but reality turns out to be empty. Unspent energy is redirectedinto muscles: first facial (a smile), then respiratory (laughter), and with a strong excess — into body movements. Laughter is an evolutionary valve for releasing tension.
Crying is subject to a different vector. In grief or compassion, energy finds no outlet, paralyzes the will and muscles. Crying is a reaction to an ascending incongruity or the impossibility of action. Tears and convulsive sighs redirect excitation from the cerebral cortex to the autonomic systems, saving from overload. In social terms, tears became established as a signal for help, calling for cooperation.
Grace, Spencer defines mechanistically: it is movement with the least expenditure of force. Awkwardness is a sign of excessive effort. The aethetic perception of grace is explained by internal sympathy: observing an easy movement, the brain subconsciously models it and feels comfort from the ideal balance of forces.
Connecting laughter, tears, and grace, Spencer shows how cultural phenomena have their roots in biology. His ideas about the discharge of nervous energy anticipated Freud’s cathartic model, and his theses on the expression of emotions formed the basis of Darwin’s work.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the publication in the library’s reading room.