Andrea Scarantino, "Emotion Theory: The Routledge Comprehensive Guide" (Routledge, 2024)

·1 hr 9 min·5 clips

A 14-year-old Andrea Scarantino hid behind a column, critiquing adults' arguments before discovering philosophy.

Carrie Figdor, professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa and co-host of New Books in Philosophy, introduces the episode as an exception to their usual monograph interviews due to the significance of Andrea Scarantino's edited collection. Scarantino is a professor of philosophy at Georgia State University. His two-volume work includes 62 chapters by 101 leading theorists from philosophy, psychology, biology, sociology, neuroscience, and other fields. Scarantino shares his personal journey into philosophy, describing early-onset skepticism at age 13-14 and an unconventional path through economics and military service before philosophical training. He explains the book originated from wanting to create a comprehensive resource he wished he had when starting emotion research. Scarantino identifies two distinct historical projects in emotion theory: the natural kind project (seeking scientific categories) and the normative kind project (focusing on moral and social functions). He argues confusion arises because these projects have run in parallel without distinction. The interview covers volume one's structure: history of emotion theory from ancient Greece to the 1950s, contemporary theories, and elements of emotion theory. Scarantino notes the 1950s cutoff marks the emergence of basic emotion theory and appraisal theory. He discusses three main traditions in affective science: basic emotion theory, constructionism, and appraisal theory, and two main philosophical approaches: perceptualism and motivational theories. Scarantino explains emotions are multi-componential, leading to theoretical diversity based on which components researchers emphasize. He sees some convergence in recognizing emotions' variability, the importance of both nature and nurture, and the rationality of emotions, but predicts no unified theory will emerge. Volume two features chapters on 35 specific emotions, including culturally specific ones like amae (Japan) and saudade (Brazil). Scarantino describes creating a 14-page master table summarizing each emotion's working definition, bodily manifestations, and functions. He shares surprises from editing, particularly the difficulty of interdisciplinary communication, and from reading, realizing emotions' all-encompassing reach in human psychology. Scarantino concludes by discussing his future projects: developing his motivational theory of emotions and working on affective pragmatics.

As heard by us

A careful case for sharpening emotion categories before trying to explain them.

Andrea Scarentino's conversation with Carrie Fingdor makes a precise case for slowing down before treating emotions as settled objects of study.

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You want disgust neatly filed before anyone tries to theorize it.

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