Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T10:59:43.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

What sentimentalists should say about emotion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2019

Charlie Kurth*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5328. [email protected]

Abstract

Recent work by emotion researchers indicates that emotions have a multilevel structure. Sophisticated sentimentalists should take note of this work – for it better enables them to defend a substantive role for emotion in moral cognition. Contra May's rationalist criticisms, emotions are not only able to carry morally relevant information, but can also substantially influence moral judgment and reasoning.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aglioti, A., Goodale, M. & Sousa, J. (1995) Size contrast illusions deceive the eye but not the hand. Current Biology 5:679–85.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (2003) On the structural properties of the colors. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81:7895.Google Scholar
D'Arms, J. (2005) Two arguments for sentimentalism. Philosophical Issues 15:121.Google Scholar
Derakshan, N., Eysenck, M. & Myers, L. (2007) Emotional information processing in repressors: The vigilance–avoidance theory. Cognition and Emotion 21:15851614.Google Scholar
Fessler, D. (2007) From appeasement to conformity: Evolutionary and cultural perspectives on shame, competition, and cooperation. In: The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research, ed. Tracy, J., Robins, R. & Tangney, J., pp. 174–93. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Griffiths, P. (2004) Toward a “Machiavellian” theory of emotional appraisal. In: Emotion, evolution and rationality, ed. Evans, D. & Cruse, P., pp. 89105. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hofmann, S., Ellard, K. & Siegle, G. (2012) Neurobiological correlates of cognitions in fear and anxiety. Cognition and Emotion 26:282–99.Google Scholar
Izard, C. (2007) Basic emotions, natural kinds, emotion schemas, and a new paradigm. Perspectives on Psychological Science 2:260–80.Google Scholar
Johnston, M. (1992) How to speak of the colors. Philosophical Studies 68: 221–63.Google Scholar
Kauppinen, A. (2013a) A Humean theory of moral intuition. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 43: 360–81.Google Scholar
Kurth, C. (2016) Anxiety, normative uncertainty, and social regulation. Biology and Philosophy 31:121.Google Scholar
Kurth, C. (2018) The anxious mind: An investigation into the varieties and virtues of anxiety. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Levenson, R., Soto, J. & Pole, N. (2007) Emotion, biology, and culture. In: Handbook of cultural psychology, ed. Kitayama, S. & Cohen, D., pp. 780–96. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
May, J. (2018) Regard for reason in the moral mind. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Öhman, A. (2008) Fear and anxiety. In: Handbook of emotions, ed. Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. & Barrett, L. F., pp. 127156. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Tappolet, C. (2016) Emotions, values, and agency. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tyber, J., Lieberman, D., Kurzban, R. & DeScioli, P. (2013) Disgust: Evolved function and structure. Psychological Review 120:6584.Google Scholar
Wringe, B. (2015) The contents of perceptions and the contents of emotions. Nous 49:275–97.Google Scholar
Yang, Q., Yan, L., Luo, J., Li, A., Zhang, Y., Tian, X. & Zhang, D. (2013) Temporal dynamics of disgust and morality. PLOS ONE 8:e65094.Google Scholar