98923 - Philosophy of Emotions (2) (LM)

Academic Year 2024/2025

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Philosophical Sciences (cod. 8773)

Learning outcomes

This course examines central issues in current emotion research through the work of philosophers, psychologists, and cognitive and affective scientists. It is expected that students will become familiar with debates and theories about emotion and affectivity and will develop an ability to analyse and critically assess them.

Course contents

We shall zoom in on ontological and epistemological issues concerning emotions. The course is divided in the following two parts:

 

Epistemology (module designed by Pia Campeggiani)

By laypersons and philosophers alike, emotions are often assessed on various grounds. For example, one’s emotional response to a certain event can be assessed morally (does it reflect a virtuous or a vicious trait of one’s personality?) or prudentially (does it lead to behaviour that promotes the agent’s interests?). In this part of the course, we shall discuss epistemological issues concerning assessments of fittingness (whether an emotion is appropriate or not to its particular object) and justification (whether the emoter has reasons for her/his/their emotional response).

Specifically, we shall examine the problem of affective disagreement, that is situations where people react to the same events and narratives with contrasting emotional responses. Focusing on the relation between emotions and values, we shall also raise metaethical issues, e.g. whether values are mind-independent or response-dependent, what role affectivity plays in bringing forth moral values, and whether (at least some) emotions are sources of moral knowledge. Our main case study will be the ambiguous affective experience of victims of microaggressions.


Ontology (module designed by Michele Ombrato)

Philosophical discussions about emotions in contemporary epistemology and moral philosophy are predicated on the assumption that different emotion theories, while disagreeing about the exact nature of their target phenomena – e.g., on whether emotions are feelings, judgements, perceptions, sui generis attitudes etc. – all share the same pre-theoretical explanandum – i.e., they preliminarily individuate emotions in (roughly) the same ways. The overall aim of this part of the course is to problematise this assumption by providing an overview of the different manners in which emotions may be conceptualised depending on (implicit) underlying ontological assumptions.

The structure of the module will be as follows:

1. The structure of the affective domain

Introducing common distinctions between the concept of ‘emotion’ and closely related concepts like ‘affect’, ‘mood’, ‘feeling’, ‘passion’, ‘sentiment’ etc. Relating these concepts to superordinate concepts–e.g., reaction, attitude, perception, state, event, process etc.–and subordinate categories–e.g., anger, regret, boredom, love, hate etc.

2. What is ‘an’ emotion?

Examining and diagnosing the lack of consensus as regards the definition of ‘emotion’. Distinguishing terminological, definitional, and conceptual/ontological questions. Raising the issue of the basic or natural units of analysis for the study of emotion and relating it to questions of ontology and/or questions about where to locate emotions within the structure of the affective domain.

3. Scientific and philosophical significance of questions of ontology

Discussing the role of questions of ontology in contemporary philosophy of mind as well as scientific psychological practices. Our main case study will be current debates on emotion dynamics and, relatedly, philosophical discussions of synchronic vs diachronic emotion rationality.

Three classes will be devoted to discussing current research on closely related topics presented by invited speakers. The sessions will be pre-read and students may present short replies prepared in group under supervision.


Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory readings

Epistemology

D’Arms, J. (2022). ‘Fitting emotions’. In C. Howard and R. A. Rowland (eds), Fittingness: essays in the philosophy of normativity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 105-129. Available here: https://academic.oup.com/book/44566/chapter/376624185

D’Arms, J. and Jacobson, D. (2023). Rational sentimentalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, chapter 4 (67-90). Available here: https://academic.oup.com/book/45567

Prinz, J. (2007). The emotional construction of morals, New York: Oxford University Press, chapter 1 (13-48).

Rini, R. (2021). The ethics of microaggression, Oxford and New York: Routledge, Introduction, chapter 1 and chapter 2 (1-70).

It is required that non-attending students also read

Deonna, J. and Teroni, F. (2012), The emotions: a philosophical introduction, Oxford and New York: Routledge, chapter 5 (pp. 40-51) and chapter 8 (pp. 91-103).

Ontology

Frijda, N. (2007). The Laws of Emotions, Mahuah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: chapter 7.

Frijda, N., Mesquita, B., Sonnemans, J., & Van Goozen, S. (1991). ‘The Duration of Affective Phenomena or Emotions, Sentiments and Passions’. In K. Strongman (ed.), International review of Emotion and Motivation, New worj: Wiley, 187-225. Available here: https://ppw.kuleuven.be/cscp/documents/mesquita/frijda-et-al-1991-the-duration-of-affective.pdf

Goldie, P. (2011). 'Grief: A Narrative Account', Ratio, 24: 119-137.

Mourelatos, A. P. (1978). 'Events, processes, and states', Linguistics and philosophy, 2, 415-434.

Na’aman, O. (2019). ‘The Rationality of Emotional Change: Toward a Process View’, Noûs, 55(2), 245-269.

Wollheim, R. (1999) On the Emotions. New Haven: Yale University Press: chapter 1.


Teaching methods

This course is designed to be delivered over a period of 5 weeks with three two-hour classes per week.

Assessment methods

Attending students are required to attend no less than 12 classes. Grades will be distributed as follows: active participation during classes (20%), final viva voce examination (80%).

Non-attending students will be evaluated on the basis of a viva voce examination.

The viva voce examination will commence with a ten-minute presentation by the student on a topic of their choice from within the course prescription. It will also include questions by the instructor on any other part of the prescription.

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Difficulties have the right to special adjustments according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments. For more information, visit the page:

https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Teaching tools

Further readings will be provided via Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Pia Campeggiani