Shame And Philosophy

by Phil Hutchinson

Overview

In an important contribution to the burgeoning area of philosophy of emotions, Phil Hutchinson engages with philosophers of emotion in both the analytic and continental traditions. Shame and Philosophy advances a framework for understanding emotion: world-taking cognitivism. He argues that reductionist accounts of emotion leave us in a state of poverty regarding our understanding of our world and ourselves. The book contains detailed engagements with theorists of emotions such as Peter Goldie, Paul Griffiths, Jesse Prinz and Jenefer Robinson as well as a chapter on the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, which also contains a detailed critical engagement with Jacques Derrida's work. In addition, the chapter on Griffiths' work contains a detailed critique of the program of natural kind semantics. As the book progresses it becomes more and more concerned to meditate on shame as discussed by Primo Levi and other survivors of extreme trauma. The book moves towards conclusion by suggesting further directions for study.

About the Author:
Phil Hutchinson is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230266230
Publisher:	Palgrave-UK-USA
Publication date:	05/29/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	316 KB

Table of Contents

Preface     vi
Acknowledgements     viii
Introduction     1
Experimental Methods and Conceptual Confusion: Philosophy, Science, and What Emotions Really Are     7
To 'Make Our Voices Resonate' or 'To Be Silent'? Shame as Fundamental Ontology     42
Emotion, Cognition, and World     87
Shame and World     123
Notes     156
Bibliography     181
Index     189

Editorial Reviews

'Phil Hutchinson offers an incisive, insightful and deeply humane New Wittgensteinian critique of a number of influential accounts of the emotions, including shame. That too many philosophers have marginalized the 'person' in their accounts that they have forgotten the place of the emotions in human lives and in the life-world is the shame of philosophy.' - Katherine Morris, Oxford University

'A fine work: not only does it provide convincing answers to important questions, it also reveals the limitations - and cures some of the blindspots - of much contemporary research on emotions. The discussion of cognitivism is particularly subtle, while the perspicuous presentation of the lived experience of shame might help to resolve some crucial theoretical aporias about the nature and the significance of being a person.' - Anthony Hatzimoysis, The University of Manchester

'Hutchinson's book is a thoughtful, thorough and interesting work. He offers many striking reflections on emotion, language and, specifically, shame. In showing how different conceptions of emotions are based on problematic conceptions of language, he also goes much deeper than philosophers usually when they write about this subject.' - Ylva Gustafsson, Philosophical Investigations

From the Publisher