"The study of feelings, once the province of psychology, is now spreading to history, literature, and other fields." Scholarship on
the emotions is a rich field for historians and philosophers.
Martha Nussbaum (previously discussed
here) has written on historical views of the relationship between
morality and emotion, and delves more deeply into it in her recent book,
Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Of particular relevance these days may be M.F. Burnyeat's new book,
Restraining Rage: The Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity, which focuses on Classical views of anger and its proper place in human action. Many today could learn from
Marcus Aurelius: "as grief is a mark of weakness, so is anger, for both have been wounded and have surrendered to the wound." [First link via
Ye Olde Phart.]
posted by homunculus
on Feb 25, 2003 -
17 comments
