The Subtlety of Emotions - Hardcover

Ben–ze′ev, Aaron

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262024632 ISBN 13: 9780262024631

Publisher: MIT Press, 2000

Synopsis

Why do we cry at the movies? What is the best way to manage destructive feelings such as jealousy? Although emotions prevade our lives, their nature, causes and effects have only recently been studied by social scientists and philosophers. Despite growing scientific interest in the subject, empirical findings have not yet caught up with our intuitive knowledge. In this book Aaron Ben-Ze'ev carries out what he calls "a careful search for general patterns in the primeval jungle of emotions". In an engaging, informal style he draws on a variety of theoretical approaches and popular sources to produce a coherent account of emotions in all their subtlety. All of the ideas are illustrated with examples drawn from everyday life. The book is organized into two parts. The first presents an overall conteptual framework for understanding emotions. It looks at all the typical characteristics and components of emotions, distinguishes emotions from other affective phenomena, classifies the emotions and covers such related issues as emotional intelligence, regulating emotions, and emotions and morality. The second part discusses individual emotions, including envy, jealousy, pleasure-in-others'-misfortune, pity, compassion, anger, hate, disgust, love, sexual desire, happiness, sadness, pride, regret and shame. The text is laced with insightful and often amusing quotations from sources ranging from Mae West to Montesquieu.

About this title

Review:

"Some readers will march straight through from envy and jealousy to pridefulness...others, no doubt, will jump to 'hurting the one you love,'...But all of us will be able to savor the brackish pleasure of finding ourselves pictured within." - Jonathan Ree, Los Angeles Times Book Review

About the Author:

Aaron Ben-Ze'ev is Dean of Research, Professor of Philosophy, and Co-director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Emotions at the University of Haifa.

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0262024632
• ISBN 13: 9780262024631
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 632