ADVANCED STUDIES IN EMOTION*

概要

Over the past several decades scholars in humanities and social science have increasingly paid more attention to the topic of emotions – what they are and how they fundamentally condition our experience. Some call this shift ‘turn to emotion’ or ‘the affective turn’, suggesting that its significance is comparable to ‘the linguistic turn’ in the last century (Brooks and Lemmings 2014). However, this intellectual exploration on the nature of emotions and their roles in society has been largely limited to the works of the authors in the West. For example, in his book What is an Emotion (2003) Robert Solomon, a leading philosopher on the subject, starts his discussion with Aristotle, covers the ‘usual suspects’ such as Descartes and Hume, and ends his discussion with contemporary scholars of Western philosophy. Yet there existed long and complex reflections in South Asia on the topics such as the role of mind in human cognition, the power of emotions in decision making process, and their relationship to aesthetics. This course is an attempt to fill this lacuna in scholarship by examining how the South Asian traditions may contribute to the contemporary academic discourse on emotion.

目標

Students will - become familiar with current academic theories and discourses on the philosophy, the aesthetics, and the history of emotions. - become aware of the theoretical challenges in approaching non-Western traditions through the medium of the English language. - learn the concepts and the terminologies on emotions in the intellectual traditions of the West and of South Asia. - learn how to approach studies on emotions from comparative perspectives. - acquire in-depth knowledge of South Asian intellectual traditions.

授業外の学習

Students are responsible for all materials covered in class. - They are expected to complete the reading assignments before the relevant class (140 minutes). - Students will be required to submit comments or discussion questions (500 words, 30 minutes) for each meeting. - They are expected to review the class material after each meeting (20 minutes).

所要時間: 190 minutes.