Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3110: Philosophy of Emotion

This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.

Overview

NQF Level 6
Credits 30 ECTS Value 15
Term(s) and duration

This module ran during term 1 (11 weeks) and term 2 (11 weeks)

Academic staff

Professor Giovanna Colombetti (Lecturer)

Pre-requisites

none

Co-requisites

none

Available via distance learning

No

Emotion is now a central topic in many areas of philosophy – from ethics, to aesthetics, to philosophy of mind and cognitive science. This is an in-depth module that addresses emotions primarily as mental states, and asks what kind of mental states emotions are. In the first half of the module we will discuss whether emotions are bodily or cognitive (or perhaps both), whether they are necessarily felt or can also be unconscious, and how they relate to moods. In the second half we will look at the debate between naturalistic and social constructionist accounts of emotions, and at a variety of other specific questions – such as: are emotions necessarily positive or negative? What kind of emotions do we experience when reading or watching fiction? Can emotions be “epistemic”? What is the relation between feelings, emotional expression, and language?

Module created

12/05/2017

Last revised

02/01/2019