What is an Emotion?: Classic and Contemporary Readings

What is an Emotion?, 2/e, draws together important selections from classical and contemporary theories and debates about emotion. Utilizing sources from a variety of subject areas including philosophy, psychology, and biology, editor Robert Solomon provides an illuminating look at the "affective" side of psychology and philosophy from the perspective of the world's great thinkers. Part One of the book features five classic readings from Aristotle, the Stoics, Descartes, Spinoza, and Hume. Part Two offers classic and contemporary theories from the social sciences, presenting selections from such thinkers as Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud alongside recent work from Paul Ekman, Catherine Lutz, and others. Part Three presents some of the extensive work on emotion that developed in Europe over the past century. Part Four includes essays representing the discussion of emotions among British and American analytic philosophers. The volume is enhanced by a comprehensive introduction by the editor and a multidisciplinary bibliography. What is an Emotion? is appropriate for any course in which the nature of emotion plays a major role, including philosophy of emotion, philosophy of mind, history of psychology, emotion and motivation, moral psychology, and history and psychology of consciousness courses. The second edition provides much more material on emotions in the sciences and more from recent philosophical theories, encompassing recent shifts in theorizing on three fronts: the wealth of new information on the central nervous system and the brain; new developments in cross-cultural research and anthropology; and the recent emphasis on "cognition" in emotion, both in philosophy and the social sciences. New selections include work by Antonio Damasio, Ronald De Sousa, Paul Ekman, Nico Frijda, Patricia Greenspan, Paul Griffiths, Richard Lazarus, Catherine Lutz, Martha Nussbaum, and Michael Stocker.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction: "What Is an Emotion?": I. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Aristotle From Rhetoric From On the Soul From Nicomachean Ethics The Stoics From Early Stoics From Seneca, De Ira From Galen, On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato René Descartes From The Passions of the Soul Benedict Spinoza From Ethics David Hume From A Treatise of Human Nature II. THE MEETING OF PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY Charles Robert Darwin From The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals William James From What Is an Emotion? Walter B. Cannon From Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage John Dewey From The Theory of Emotion Sigmund Freud From The Unconscious Anxiety (From General Lectures on Psychoanalysis) Stanley Schachter and Jerome E. Singer From Cognitive, Social, and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State Paul Ekman From Biological and Cultural Contributions to Body and Facial Movement in the Expression of Emotions Richard Lazarus Appraisal: The Minimal Cognitive Prerequisites of Emotion Nico Frijda Emotions are Functional, Most of the Time Catherine Lutz From Unnatural Emotions Antonio Damasio From The Feeling of What Happens III. THE CONTINENTAL TRADITION Franz Brentano From On the Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong Max Scheler From Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values Martin Heidegger Charles Guignon, Moods in Heidegger's Being and Time Jean-Paul Sartre From The Emotions: A Sketch of a Theory IV. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS AND EMOTION Gilbert Ryle From The Concept of Mind Errol Bedford From Emotions Anthony Kenny From Action, Emotion and Will Robert C. Solomon From Emotions and Choice Cheshire Calhoun Cognitive Emotions? Ronald De Sousa From The Rationality of Emotion Michael Stocker The Irreducibility of Affectivity Patricia Greenspan Reasons to Feel Martha Nussbaum Emotions as Judgements of Value and Importance Paul Griffiths From What Emotions Really Are Bibliography

Review :
"An excellent addition to a course in History of Psychology. This volume's thematic consistency lets students see the changes that have occurred in psychological thought over the centuries."--Michael Nielsen, Georgia Southern University