What Emotions Really Are: The Problem of Psychological Categories

by Paul E. Griffiths

Overview

In this provocative contribution to the philosophy of science and mind, Paul E. Griffiths criticizes contemporary philosophy and psychology of emotion for failing to take in an evolutionary perspective and address current work in neurobiology and cognitive science. Reviewing the three current models of emotion, Griffiths points out their deficiencies and constructs a basis for future models that pay equal attention to biological fact and conceptual rigor.

"Griffiths has written a work of depth and clarity in an area of murky ambiguity, producing a much-needed standard at the border of science, philosophy, and psychology. . . . As he presents his case, offering a forthright critique of past and present theories, Griffiths touches on such issues as evolution, social construction, natural kinds (categories corresponding with real distinctions in nature), cognition, and moods. While addressing specialists, the book will reward general readers who apply themselves to its remarkably accessible style."—Library Journal

"What Emotions Really Are makes a strong claim to be one of the best books to have emerged on the subject of human emotion."—Ray Dolan, Nature

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226308722
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	08/12/1998
Series:	Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series , #1997
Edition description:	1
Pages:	293
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1320L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1: Introduction
2: Philosophy and Emotion—The Poverty of Conceptual Analysis
3: The Psychoevolutionary Approach to Emotion
4: Affect Programs and Emotion Modules
5: The Higher Cognitive Emotions: Some Research Programs
6: The Social Construction of Emotion
7: Natural Kinds and Theoretical Concepts
8: Natural Kinds in Biology and Psychology
9: What Emotions Really Are
10: Coda - Mood and Emotion
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Perhaps the best and most persuasive book on this perspective on emotions. -- Philadelphia Enquirer

Robert C. Solomon

It is difficult to do justice to Griffiths in a short review. His analysis of the concept of emotion and his proposal for the future direction of the field is the most compelling and best argued I have read...[The book] makes a strong to be one of the best books to have emerged in the subject of human emotion.
— Nature

Ray Dolan