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Course Description

Consider all of the emotions that you have experienced today. You may have been irritated by other commuters. You may have been happy to hear that your favourite sports team won last night. You may have been proud to tell a friend about how well you performed last term. In fact, most of our experiences have some sort of emotional content. Despite playing a vital role in our mental lives, the emotions were not considered to be important either philosophically or psychologically until the mid-twentieth century. Several questions persist: What characterizes emotions from other mental states? How do they relate to these other states? How can thoughts influence our emotions, and vice versa? How do we determine which emotional responses are reasonable or unreasonable to a given stimulus in a given context? How does emotional content affect rationality?

In this course, we will examine potential answers to these and other questions from both philosophical and psychological perspectives using both historical and contemporary resources.

Required Course Texts

1. Deonna, J. & Teroni, F. The Emotions: A Philosophical Introduction (London: Routledge, 2012).
2. Miscellaneous readings on electronic reserve.

 Course Schedule

All information subject to change with notice.

Week	Topic	Readings
01	Welcome!; What do we mean by emotion?	Syllabus, TE: 1-14, E1

The Nature of Emotions

02	What do emotions have in common?	TE: 14-28
03	How do emotions relate to belief?	TE: 28-40
04	What do values have to do with it?	TE: 40-52
05	Emotions and Judgements	TE: 52-63, E2
06	[Review and Midterm]	N/A

Emotion and Action

07	Perceptual Theories of Justification	TE: 63-76, E3
08	How not to be eaten by a bear	E4
09	Emotions and motivation	E5, E1
10	The Attitudinal Theory of Emotions	TE: 76-91
11	Can emotional responses be inappropriate?	TE: 91-104
12	Do emotions make us less rational? A response to Spock	E6
13	Wrap-up and review	Everything you haven’t read.

Legend

TE	The Emotions: A Philosophical Introduction
E1	Prinz, J. Gut Reactions (selections)
E2	Solomon, R. Not Passion’s Slave (selections)
E3	Bain, A. Emotions & The Will (selections)
E4	James, W. Principles of Psychology (selection A)
E5	James, W. Principles of Psychology (selection B)
E6	James, W. “The Sentiment of Rationality”