The ascent of affect : genealogy and critique / Ruth Leys.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leys, Ruth, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emotions--Research--History--20th century.

Emotions.

Emotions--Research--History--21st century.

Affect (Psychology).

Emotions and cognition.

Intentionality (Philosophy).

Emotions--Research.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

390 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Summary:

In recent years, emotions have become a major, vibrant topic of research not just in the biological and psychological sciences but throughout a wide swath of the humanities and social sciences as well. Yet surprisingly, there is still no consensus on their basic nature or workings. Ruth Ley's brilliant, much-anticipated history is a story of controversy and disagreement. The Ascent of Affect focuses on the post-World War II period, when interest in emotions as an object of study began to revive. Leys analyzes the ongoing debate over how to understand emotions, paying particular attention to the continual conflict between camps that argue for the intentionality of emotions, which conceptualized emotions as part of cognition, and so have trouble explaining their presence in nonhuman animals, and those that argue for the universality of emotions but struggle when the questions turns to meaning. Addressing the work of key figures from across the spectrum, considering the potentially misleading appeal of neuroscience for those working in the humanities, and bringing her story fully up to date by taking in the latest developments, leys presents here the most thorough analysis available of how we have tried to think about how we feel. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: setting the stage

Silvan S. Tomkins' affect theory

Paul Ekman's neurocultural theory of the emotions

Richard S. Lazarus' appraisal theory i: emotions as intentional states

Richard S. Lazarus's appraisal theory ii: the battle is joined

A world without pretense? Alan J. Fridlund's behavioral ecology view

The debate continues: paradigm change or status quo?

The turn to affect: a critique

Epilogue: where we are now.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226488424

022648842X

9780226488561

022648856X

OCLC:

960905918