Philosophy of Emotions (PHL 532), Eaton, Fall 2015

This course is meant to be a survey of contemporary philosophy of emotion. The idea is to give you a sense of the lay of the land. I have left the last weeks of the semester open so that I can choose reading that responds to our discussions thus far, and also for your presentations. Work required:

Presentation of 45 minutes to one hour Final paper, due on last day of semester. 3,000 – 4,000 words.

Please note that I have not ordered books. In a few cases I may provide pdfs, but unless otherwise noted it is your responsibility to get the readings. Books are available in our library r through interlibrary loan; if you have one of these, please be prepared to share it with others who may want to scan or photocopy it. Schedule: WEEK 1 (8/24): Intro. Please be prepared with the following: (1) read the SEP entry on emotion by Ronnie de Sousa1 and (2) be prepared to describe one question that you would like to investigate this semester. WEEK 2 (8/31): Peter Goldie, The Emotions: A Philosophical Exploration (Clarendon 2002). WEEK 3 (9/7): LABOR DAY, NO CLASS. WEEK 4 (9/14): (8/31): Selections from Martha Nussbaum’s Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of the Emotions (CUP 2001).

Read Ch. 1 Scan Ch. 2 Read. Ch. 3 Scan Ch. 4 Scan Ch. 5 Read Ch. 6 Read Ch. 7 Read Ch. 8 Read Ch. 9

WEEK 5 (9/21): D’Arms and Jacobson (articles available online -- TBA)

1 For those of you who do not know, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (often abbreviated “SEP”) is an open-access (i.e., free of charge) resource that is typically very high quality and up-to-date. Become familiar with it if you have not already.

WEEK 6 (9/28): Jesse Prinz, Gut Reactions: A Perceptual Theory of the Emotions (OUP 2006). WEEK 7 (10/5): Griffiths. TBA (but I will make it available via pdf). WEEK 8 (10/12): Jenefer Robinson, Deeper than Reason: Emotion and its Role in Literature, Music, and Art (OUP 2005). (selections) WEEK 9 (10/19): Daniel Kelly, Yuck: The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust (MIT 2013). WEEK 10 (10/26): Carolyn Kormeyer, Savoring Disgust (OUP 2011) WEEK 11 (11/2): WEEK 12 (11/9): WEEK 13 (11/16): WEEK 14 (11/23): WEEK 15 (11/30): Other things we may read:

Jonathan Haidt Walter Sinnott-Armstrong selections from Martha Nussbaum’s Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice

and her recent essay on Transitional Anger in JAPA.