Philosophers since Aristotle have explored emotion, and the study of emotion has always been essential to the love of wisdom. In recent years Anglo-American philosophers have rediscovered and placed new emphasis on this very old discipline. The view that emotions are ripe for philosophical analysis has been supported by a considerable number of excellent publications. In this volume, Robert Solomon brings together some of the best Anglo-American philosophers now writing on the philosophy of emotion, with chapters from philosophers who have distinguished themselves in the field of emotion research and have interdisciplinary interests, particularly in the social and biological sciences. The reader will find a lively variety of positions on topics such as the nature of emotion, the category of "emotion," the rationality of emotions, the relationship between an emotion and its expression, the relationship between emotion, motivation, and action, the biological nature versus social construction of emotion, the role of the body in emotion, the extent of freedom and our control of emotions, the relationship between emotion and value, and the very nature and warrant of theories of emotion. In addition, this book acknowledges that it is impossible to study the emotions today without engaging with contemporary psychology and the neurosciences, and moreover engages them with zeal. Thus the essays included here should appeal to a broad spectrum of emotion researchers in the various theoretical, experimental, and clinical branches of psychology, in addition to theorists in philosophy, philosophical psychology, moral psychology, and cognitive science, the social sciences, and literary theory.

Solomon (business and philosophy, U. of Texas at Austin), head of the International Society for Research on Emotions, collects 17 essays from US and UK philosophers/researchers studying emotion—once considered an unfit subject for serious study except by Aristotle, Darwin, and some modern European thinkers. A range of views are presented on the nature, theories, and roles of emotions in cognition, motivation, and behavior.
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"The legacy of Bobo Solomon's labor is to be found in the many books, such as this, that demonstrate the importance of thinking about feeling for inquiry in such diverse areas of philosophy as philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, and moral psychology."--Karen Jones, Sophia

"This is an excellent collection which raises some fascinating issues."--Francis J. Raphael O'Sullivan, Philosophical Writings

In this volume, the editor tries to bring together some of the best Anglo-American philosophers now writing on the philosophy of emotion. The essays included in this text should appeal to a broad spectrum of emotion researchers as well as philosophers.

Introduction, Robert C. Solomon

Part I: Emotions, Physiology, and Intentionality

1. Primitive Emotions, John Deigh

2. Emotion: Biological Fact Or Social Construction?, Jenefer Robinson

3. Embodied Emotions, Jesse Prinz

Part II: Emotion, Appraisal, and Cognition

4. Emotions: What I Know, What I'd Like To Think I Know, And What I'd Like To Think, Ronald de Sousa

5. Emotions, Thoughts, and Feelings: Emotions as Engagements in the World, Robert C. Solomon

Part III: Emotions and Feelings

6. Emotion, Feeling, And Knowledge of The World, Peter Goldie

7. Emotions and Subjectivity, Cheshire Calhoun

Part IV: Emotions and Rationality

8. Emotions, Rationality, and Mind-Body, Patricia Greenspan

9. Some Considerations About Intellectual Desire and Emotions, Michael Stocker

Part V: Emotions, Action, and Freedom

10. Emotion and Action, Jon Elster

11. Emotions And Freedom, Jerome Neu

Part VI: Emotion and Value

12. Emotions as Judgments of Value and Importance, Martha Nussbaum

13. Feelings That Matter, Annette Baier

14. Perturbations Of Desire: Emotions Disarming Morality, Purushottama Bilimoria

Part VII: On Theories of Emotion

15. Is Emotion a Natural Kind?, Paul E. Griffiths

16. Emotion As A General Mental Mode, Aaron Ben-Ze'ev

17. Enough Already with Theories of Emotion, Amelie Oksenberg Rorty

Cumulative Bibliography