Upheavals of Thought
Subtitle: The Intelligence of Emotions
Edition: New Ed edition
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: April 14, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 766
ISBN-13: 9780521531825
Subjects: Psychology; Topics in philosophy; Philosophy; Emotions; History & Surveys - General; Emotions and cognition; Philosophy / History, Criticism, Surveys
First sentence: Emotions, I shall argue, involve judgments about important things, judgments in which, appraising an external object as salient for our own well-being, we acknowledge our own neediness and incompleteness before parts of the world that we do not fully control.
Description: Emotions shape the landscape of our mental and social lives. Like geological upheavals in a landscape, they mark our lives as uneven, uncertain and prone to reversal. Are they simply, as some have claimed, animal energies or impulses with no connection to our thoughts? Or are they rather suffused with intelligence and discernment, and thus a source of deep awareness and understanding? In this compelling book, Martha C. Nussbaum presents a powerful argument for treating emotions not as alien forces but as highly discriminating responses to what is of value and importance. She explores and illuminates the structure of a wide range of emotions, in particular compassion and love, showing that there can be no adequate ethical theory without an adequate theory of the emotions. This involves understanding their cultural sources, their history in infancy and childhood, and their sometimes unpredictable and disorderly operations in our daily lives.