The period from 1884 to the first decade of the 20th century may be viewed as an open theoretical laboratory in which William James, John Dewey and George Herbert Mead sought to develop new approaches to the issue of human emotions. The suggestions and unresolved difficulties presented by James were first discussed and elaborated by Dewey and then, immediately afterwards, reconsidered and further articulated by Mead. The paper highlights some of the most relevant theses derived from the pragmatist debate, such as the continuity between bodily and mental aspects, the possibility of articulating the discourse by distinguishing betweeen the aesthetic, qualitative and affective aspects of our experience and emotions, and the social dimension of emotions conceived as basic forms of conversation or gestures. The paper suggests that the resulting non-dualistic approach to emotions – which completely rejects the dychotomy between mind and body, emotion and cognition, private and social – is still significant for present-day philosophical debate, which often continues to confine our affective life to an alleged private or mental sphere, while seeking to develop a purely cognitively oriented theory of the minds of others. Furthermore, the author suggests that the natural-culturalistic or bio-social approach to emotions can help avoid a new sort of polarization between a reductive naturalistic stance inspired by the cognitive sciences – or, better, their stiffer philosophical versions – and the radical constructivistic approach to emotions now prevalent in the social sciences (from sociology to cultural studies), as well as in economics.

Emozioni pragmatiste

DREON, Roberta
2015-01-01

Abstract

The period from 1884 to the first decade of the 20th century may be viewed as an open theoretical laboratory in which William James, John Dewey and George Herbert Mead sought to develop new approaches to the issue of human emotions. The suggestions and unresolved difficulties presented by James were first discussed and elaborated by Dewey and then, immediately afterwards, reconsidered and further articulated by Mead. The paper highlights some of the most relevant theses derived from the pragmatist debate, such as the continuity between bodily and mental aspects, the possibility of articulating the discourse by distinguishing betweeen the aesthetic, qualitative and affective aspects of our experience and emotions, and the social dimension of emotions conceived as basic forms of conversation or gestures. The paper suggests that the resulting non-dualistic approach to emotions – which completely rejects the dychotomy between mind and body, emotion and cognition, private and social – is still significant for present-day philosophical debate, which often continues to confine our affective life to an alleged private or mental sphere, while seeking to develop a purely cognitively oriented theory of the minds of others. Furthermore, the author suggests that the natural-culturalistic or bio-social approach to emotions can help avoid a new sort of polarization between a reductive naturalistic stance inspired by the cognitive sciences – or, better, their stiffer philosophical versions – and the radical constructivistic approach to emotions now prevalent in the social sciences (from sociology to cultural studies), as well as in economics.
2015
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/3675950
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