Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions

Description

What is it to grieve for the death of a parent? More literary and experiential than other philosopical works on emotion, Upheavals of Thought will engage the reader who has ever stopped to ask that question. Emotions such as grief, fear, anger and love seem to be alien forces that disturb our thoughts and plans. Yet they also embody some of our deepest thoughts--about the importance of the people we love, about the vulnerability of our bodies and our plans to events beyond our control. In this wide-ranging book, based on her Gifford Lectures, philosopher Martha Nussbaum draws on philosophy, psychology, anthropology, music and literature to illuminate the role emotions play in our thoughts about important goals. Starting with an account of her own mother's death, she argues that emotions are intelligent appraisals of a world that we do not control, in the light of our own most significant goals and plans. She then investigates the implications of this idea for normative issues, analyzing the role of compassion in private and public reasoning and the attempts of authors both philosophical and literary to purify or reform the emotion of erotic love. Ultimately, she illuminates the structure of emotions and argues that once we understand the complex intelligence of emotions we will also have new reasons to value works of literature as sources of ethical education. Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago, appointed in Law School, Philosophy department, and Divinity School, and an Associate in Classics. A leading scholar in ancient Greek ethics, aesthetics and literature, her previous books include The Fragility of Goodness (Cambridge, 1986), Loves's Knowledge (Oxford, 1992), Poetic Justice (Beacon Press, 1997), The Therapy of Desire (Princeton, 1996), Cultivating Humanity (Harvard, 1997), and Sex and Social Justice (Oxford, 1999). Her reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, New York Review of Books, and New Republic.

'... a staggering feat of synthesis...creates an argument for the dignity and moral efficacy of emotion that is not only an intellectual tour de force but a moving triumph of humanistic thinking.' New York Times Book Review '... united in an original and altogether personal way the philosophy of the emotions with the texture of life and the experience of art ... Upheavals of Thought is what Henry James, one of Nussbaum's favorite authors, would have called a 'great, glittering thing'.' Los Angeles Times Book Review '... a philosophical milestone. Few books of our time make one feel so privileged to enter into them ... A generation may pass before anyone gives an account of thinking about emotion and its human stakes as deep as Upheavals of Thought.' San Francisco Chronicle '... In this massive study Nussbaum takes the perennial boxing match between thought and perception to a brilliant new register ... it has the feel of a major achievement.' Publishers Weekly '... a brave and civilized book. And at a time when we need above all an understanding of political emotions its subject could not be more welcome.' The New Republic '... unites in an original and altogether personal way the philosophy of the emotions with the texture of life and the experience of art ... The book shows an impressive familiarity with the classics, with psychology, with anthropology, with the law and with its own version of psychoanalysis.' Los Angeles Times Book Review '[Nussbaum] is among America's most prolific and prominent public intellectuals, with many causes to her credit, to all of which she brings extraordinary scholarly and liberal credentials ... it is a brave and civilized book. And at a time when we need above all an understanding of political emotions, its subject could not be more welcome.' The New Republic 'It is an awesomely ambitious and unabashedly personal book. It contains ... three elegant studies of the role of the emotions in human flourishing ... this is a magnificent book ... this book stands apart, if only as a kind of culmination of her work so far.' Mind 'Several disciplinary establishments are bound to be shaken by this book, and most of all the scholars, scientists, and writers in the always emergent field of human emotion ... almost all will be amazed by the extent to which Nussbaum can sweep feeling up into thinking and judging.' Common Knowledge '... it is fitting that perhaps the most considered recent contribution to the field has been made by Martha C. Nussbaum, a philosopher whose considerable powers of thought have brought some much needed clarity and depth of thought into this complex and controversial field ... appreciate the breadth of scholarship, the awesome ability to synthesize ideas from a range of disciplines without becoming facile, the elegance of the argument and the clarity of the writing. It is a book to read slowly, with care, and with plenty of pauses for reflection ... she is keen to develop a social theory of emotion, which is a major contribution to the is debate.' Auto/Biography '... thrilling and satisfying.' A. M. C. Casiday, University of Durham '... an awesome tour de force of philosophical inquiry ... some marvelous intellectual architecture ...'. getAbstract