Introductory description

Emotions play a role in virtually every aspect of human life. You are probably experiencing some of them as you read. Perhaps, you are intrigued by the title of this module and curious to find out more. Hopefully, you will not be bored by the end of this description… Emotions are of vital importance to us: they help us to navigate the world; they can contribute to, or get in the way of, our wellbeing. Emotions are not just private experiences, but they shape our personal relations with others—think, for example, of friendship and love. By motivating us to act in certain ways, emotions, such as compassion and anger, also shape our moral and political lives.

In this module, we will draw on a diverse range of literature from the history of philosophy to explore emotions in their complexity. We will approach questions concerning emotions from a variety of perspectives, including philosophy of mind, moral philosophy and moral psychology, political philosophy, and comparative philosophy. Here are some exciting questions we will investigate: What are emotions? Are they intelligent or simple physical reactions? Can we control them? To what degree, if at all, are we responsible for them? Can our emotional responses be evaluated (praised or criticized)—and if so, according to what standards (e.g. wellbeing, rationality, morality)? Can we cultivate or educate our emotional lives?

Throughout the history of philosophy, we find sophisticated theories of emotions that provide us with valuable tools for addressing these questions. To think about these issues, we will engage with a variety of philosophical figures and traditions, from antiquity to the present, as well as from different cultural contexts. We will also examine intriguing accounts of specific emotions, assessing their relevance and significance, both theoretical and practical, in today's world.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Indicative outline syllabus

Week 1: Introduction to thinking about the emotions through the history of philosophy; What is an emotion? (1) William James on emotions as bodily feelings

Week 2: What is an emotion? (2) Martha Nussbaum on emotions as evaluative judgments

Week 3: Emotion and virtue (possible focus: Aristotle and the Zhuang-Zi on the evaluation and education of the emotions)

Week 4: Seneca and the other Stoics on anger and the 'extirpation' of the emotions

Week 5: Augustine and Aquinas on hope as a virtue and a vice (possible alternative: Spinoza on hope and fear)

Week 6: Reading Week

Week 7: David Hume, Adam Smith and Sophie de Grouchy on sympathy

Week 8: Compassion: for and against (possible focus on Indian Buddhist philosophy and Nietzsche)

Week 9: TBC (possible focus: disgust and the current empirical debate in moral psychology)

Week 10: Simone de Beauvoir on authentic and inauthentic love

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Closely read and critically analyse texts of high complexity
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key theories and accounts of emotions in the history of philosophy
• Identify central issues and debates in the philosophy of emotion
• Compare and evaluate differing philosophical theories and accounts of emotions
• Apply philosophical analysis to specific emotions to reflect on emotional experience in personal, moral, and political contexts
• Develop and defend their own philosophical views through well-reasoned arguments
• Demonstrate written communication skills through the completion of assignments
• Demonstrate oral communication skills through active participation in learning sessions

Indicative reading list

Primary sources may include:

• William James, 'What is an emotion?';
• Martha Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions;
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics;
• Seneca, Anger, Mercy, and Revenge;
• David Hume, (excerpts form) 'Of the Passions', A Treatise of Human Nature (Book II);
• Adam Smith, 'Of Sympathy, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Part I, Section 1);
• Sophie de Grouchy, Letters on Sympathy;
• Fredrich Nietzsche, (selected aphorisms and sections from) Dawn (or Daybreak), The Gay Science, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra;
• Simone de Beauvoir, 'The Woman in Love', The Second Sex.

Secondary sources may include:

• Amber D. Carpenter, Indian Buddhist Philosophy: Metaphysics as Ethics (Routledge, 2014);
• Alix Cohen and Robert Stern (eds.), Thinking about the Emotions: A Philosophical History (Oxford UP, 2017);
• John M. Cooper, Reason and Emotion: Essays on Ancient Moral Psychology and Ethical Theory (Princeton UP, 1998);
• Peter Goldie, The Emotions (Oxford UP, 2002);
• Peter Goldie (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Emotions (Oxford UP, 2009);
• M. S. Hacker, The Passions: A Study of Human Nature (Wiley Blackwell, 2018);
• Susan James, Passion and Action: The Emotions in Seventeenth Century Philosophy (Oxford UP, 2000);
• Simo Knuuttila, Emotions in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (Oxford UP, 2004);
• Carolyn Price, Emotion (Polity, 2015);
• Jennifer Robinson, Deeper than Reason: Emotion and its Role in Literature, Music, and Art (Oxford UP, 2005);
• Robert C. Solomon, Not Passion's Slave: Emotions and Choice (Oxford UP, 2003);
• Robert C. Solomon, The Passions: Emotions and the Meaning of Life (Hackett, 1993);
• Robert C. Solomon, True to Our Feelings (Oxford UP, 2007);
• Curie Virag, The Emotions in Early Chinese Philosophy (Oxford UP, 2017).

Research element

Students will produce essays that require research into relevant primary and secondary literature and the development of independent critical analyses and arguments.

Subject specific skills

Students will

• Practice and enhance their close reading and critical analysis skills;
• Practice and enhance their philosophical skills in interpretation and argument;
• Practice and enhance their scholarly ability to engage primary and secondary sources to evaluate, critique, and build upon existing views in the literature;
• Be able to interpret and evaluate different philosophical theories and accounts of emotions in their specific historical contexts;
• Acquire an appreciation of how key figures in the history of philosophy have shaped our understanding of the emotions;
• Be able to apply philosophical theories of emotion to real-world moral and political issues, critically assessing their implications for contemporary debates;
• Practice and enhance their ability to communicate clearly and effectively about issues concerning emotion in the history of philosophy and in contemporary philosophical debates.

Transferable skills

Students will

• Practice and enhance their critical thinking skills—their ability to independently analyse and evaluate conflicting views;
• Practice and enhance their written and oral communication skills;
• Develop self-awareness by recognizing and reflecting on their own emotions and ethical values;
• Cultivating a degree of emotional literacy;
• Develop intercultural awareness;
• Time management;
• Independent research skills.