PHIL7222 · Philosophy

Political Emotions: Phenomenological Analyses of Hatred, Disgust, Desire, Love

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

This lecture course familiarizes us with phenomenological-philosophical analyses of emotions and affects, and it theorizes their political and socio-moral dimensions, i.e. their roles in politically significant phenomena, such as riots and revolutions, hate speech and hate crimes, and the constitution of 20th century ideologies. We will study the intentionalities of basic emotions, such as fear, anger, hatred and disgust, and compare them to the intentionalities of social emotions, such as shame and pride. Our main task is to understand how disgust and hatred figure in contemporary political conflicts. The methods at use are those of contemporary phenomenology, but we will also seek illumination from the history of philosophy, e.g., Descartes' and Aristotle's theories of emotion, and from the political philosophies of Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. The ideologies to be discussed involve sexism, gynophobia, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.