C. B. Martin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199234103
- eISBN:
- 9780191715570
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199234103.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of tactile-motor-kinaesthetic perceiving. It argues that through use of the tactile-motor-kinaesthetic sensory input and imagery that we learn the ...
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This chapter begins with a brief discussion of tactile-motor-kinaesthetic perceiving. It argues that through use of the tactile-motor-kinaesthetic sensory input and imagery that we learn the boundaries of self and not-self, and the geography of our own bodies and the three-dimensionality of things and of spaces between them. It then introduces the ‘Feeling Once, Feeling Twice Phenomenon’ that is manifested when you place your hands on a surface and what you feel with your hands does not feel back; then, as you move your hands to come into contact with one another, what you feel does (even quite sensuously so) feel back. What feels back, and what is felt as continuous (for instance, ends of the hair) with that, forms the geography of your body and its limits against what is not your body, namely, what does not feel back.Less
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of tactile-motor-kinaesthetic perceiving. It argues that through use of the tactile-motor-kinaesthetic sensory input and imagery that we learn the boundaries of self and not-self, and the geography of our own bodies and the three-dimensionality of things and of spaces between them. It then introduces the ‘Feeling Once, Feeling Twice Phenomenon’ that is manifested when you place your hands on a surface and what you feel with your hands does not feel back; then, as you move your hands to come into contact with one another, what you feel does (even quite sensuously so) feel back. What feels back, and what is felt as continuous (for instance, ends of the hair) with that, forms the geography of your body and its limits against what is not your body, namely, what does not feel back.
Simon Robertson (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572939
- eISBN:
- 9780191722165
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572939.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book comprises nine chapters on the philosophy of normativity. On one broad construal level, the normative sphere concerns norms, requirements, oughts, reasons, reasoning, rationality, ...
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This book comprises nine chapters on the philosophy of normativity. On one broad construal level, the normative sphere concerns norms, requirements, oughts, reasons, reasoning, rationality, justification, and value. These notions play a central role in both philosophical enquiry and everyday thought; but there remains considerable disagreement how to understand normativity — its nature, metaphysical and epistemological bases — and how different aspects of normative thought connect to one another. As well as exploring traditional and ongoing issues central to our understanding of normativity — especially those concerning reasons, reasoning, and rationality — the chapters develop new approaches to and perspectives within the field. Notably, they make a timely and distinctive contribution to normativity as it features across each of the practical, epistemic, and affective regions of thought, including the important issue of how normativity as it applies to action, belief, and feeling may (or may not) connect. In doing so, the chapters engage topics in the philosophy of mind and action, epistemology, normative ethics, and metaethics.Less
This book comprises nine chapters on the philosophy of normativity. On one broad construal level, the normative sphere concerns norms, requirements, oughts, reasons, reasoning, rationality, justification, and value. These notions play a central role in both philosophical enquiry and everyday thought; but there remains considerable disagreement how to understand normativity — its nature, metaphysical and epistemological bases — and how different aspects of normative thought connect to one another. As well as exploring traditional and ongoing issues central to our understanding of normativity — especially those concerning reasons, reasoning, and rationality — the chapters develop new approaches to and perspectives within the field. Notably, they make a timely and distinctive contribution to normativity as it features across each of the practical, epistemic, and affective regions of thought, including the important issue of how normativity as it applies to action, belief, and feeling may (or may not) connect. In doing so, the chapters engage topics in the philosophy of mind and action, epistemology, normative ethics, and metaethics.
Neil Websdale
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195315417
- eISBN:
- 9780199777464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315417.003.002
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Crime and Justice
Drawing upon the work of Antonio Damasio, Norbert Elias, Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Raymond Williams, the author develops the notion of emotional styles as a ...
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Drawing upon the work of Antonio Damasio, Norbert Elias, Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Raymond Williams, the author develops the notion of emotional styles as a means of addressing the continuities between the visceral, the psychological, the social, and the historical. Using Avery Gordon's language of ghosts and haunting as a metaphorical device, the author sees familicide as an uncanny act, an outcome of the highly charged interplay between emotional styles, familial atmospheres of feeling, and broader-ranging figurations of feeling emergent in modern life. Through the analysis of two cases, the author introduces the idea that offenders are socially disconnected, lacking a sense of place, even in the midst of family life and broader social interdependencies. Familicidal hearts are therefore haunted hearts, souls forged out of the anomic and alienating conditions of modern life.Less
Drawing upon the work of Antonio Damasio, Norbert Elias, Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Raymond Williams, the author develops the notion of emotional styles as a means of addressing the continuities between the visceral, the psychological, the social, and the historical. Using Avery Gordon's language of ghosts and haunting as a metaphorical device, the author sees familicide as an uncanny act, an outcome of the highly charged interplay between emotional styles, familial atmospheres of feeling, and broader-ranging figurations of feeling emergent in modern life. Through the analysis of two cases, the author introduces the idea that offenders are socially disconnected, lacking a sense of place, even in the midst of family life and broader social interdependencies. Familicidal hearts are therefore haunted hearts, souls forged out of the anomic and alienating conditions of modern life.
David Pugmire
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199276899
- eISBN:
- 9780191602689
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199276897.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Drawing on recent work in the theory of emotion, this book concerns what is involved in the adequacy of emotions, which, it is argued, amounts to more than feeling good. The book analyses a series of ...
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Drawing on recent work in the theory of emotion, this book concerns what is involved in the adequacy of emotions, which, it is argued, amounts to more than feeling good. The book analyses a series of ways in which emotions, and the emotional life, can be well-formed or not. Some of these amount to properties emotions can have (e.g. depth) which variously enhance or detract from them. Others are attitudes with characteristic emotional loadings and effects (e.g. cynicism and sophistication), and both are affected by culture. The study even of elusive lapses in the integrity of emotions matter, it is held, for their costs are themselves emotional.Less
Drawing on recent work in the theory of emotion, this book concerns what is involved in the adequacy of emotions, which, it is argued, amounts to more than feeling good. The book analyses a series of ways in which emotions, and the emotional life, can be well-formed or not. Some of these amount to properties emotions can have (e.g. depth) which variously enhance or detract from them. Others are attitudes with characteristic emotional loadings and effects (e.g. cynicism and sophistication), and both are affected by culture. The study even of elusive lapses in the integrity of emotions matter, it is held, for their costs are themselves emotional.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195368536
- eISBN:
- 9780199852031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368536.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter addresses the biggest oversimplification in our various attempts to talk about emotions: the seemingly obvious idea that emotions are feelings. It pursues the objection that “emotions ...
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This chapter addresses the biggest oversimplification in our various attempts to talk about emotions: the seemingly obvious idea that emotions are feelings. It pursues the objection that “emotions are feelings” may be a plausible starting point, but argues that it is woefully inadequate as an analysis of emotion. It also lends itself to the “primitivization” of emotions that allows us to easily turn them into excuses. Feelings are by their nature dumb and without intelligence, whatever our intelligence may subsequently make of them. One doesn't expect an unintelligent feeling to carry with it any sense of responsibility at all.Less
This chapter addresses the biggest oversimplification in our various attempts to talk about emotions: the seemingly obvious idea that emotions are feelings. It pursues the objection that “emotions are feelings” may be a plausible starting point, but argues that it is woefully inadequate as an analysis of emotion. It also lends itself to the “primitivization” of emotions that allows us to easily turn them into excuses. Feelings are by their nature dumb and without intelligence, whatever our intelligence may subsequently make of them. One doesn't expect an unintelligent feeling to carry with it any sense of responsibility at all.
Peter Goldie
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199253043
- eISBN:
- 9780191597510
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199253048.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
The central aim of the book is to give a deeper and wider understanding of emotion, and of related phenomena, such as consciousness, thought, feeling, imagination, expressive action, mood, and ...
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The central aim of the book is to give a deeper and wider understanding of emotion, and of related phenomena, such as consciousness, thought, feeling, imagination, expressive action, mood, and character. A key theme is the idea of a personal perspective or point of view, as contrasted with the impersonal stance of the empirical sciences. It is only from the personal perspective that thoughts, reasons, feelings, and actions—commonsense psychology—come into view. The book endorses the view that the emotions are intentional, but resists the thought that this intentionality can be fully captured without reference to feelings; this is a kind of over‐intellectualizing of the emotions. The notion of feeling towards is introduced to capture the intentionality of emotion. The book argues that the various elements of emotional experience—thought, feeling, bodily change, expression, and action—are tied together as part of a narrative structure.Less
The central aim of the book is to give a deeper and wider understanding of emotion, and of related phenomena, such as consciousness, thought, feeling, imagination, expressive action, mood, and character. A key theme is the idea of a personal perspective or point of view, as contrasted with the impersonal stance of the empirical sciences. It is only from the personal perspective that thoughts, reasons, feelings, and actions—commonsense psychology—come into view. The book endorses the view that the emotions are intentional, but resists the thought that this intentionality can be fully captured without reference to feelings; this is a kind of over‐intellectualizing of the emotions. The notion of feeling towards is introduced to capture the intentionality of emotion. The book argues that the various elements of emotional experience—thought, feeling, bodily change, expression, and action—are tied together as part of a narrative structure.
Angelika Scheuer
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198296614
- eISBN:
- 9780191600227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198296614.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter is the first of four on the question of legitimacy in the EU, and deals with the core question of whether and to what extent the citizens of the EU have grown together into a political ...
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This chapter is the first of four on the question of legitimacy in the EU, and deals with the core question of whether and to what extent the citizens of the EU have grown together into a political community. The first section discusses the common European heritage, and sources of conflicts and diversity, and then introduces the concept of sense of political community, in which two dimensions are distinguished: identification (which refers to the citizens themselves) and ‘we‐feeling’ (which refers to fellow citizens). These two dimensions are compatible with modern theories of intergroup relations, and are discussed further in the next two sections of the chapter. The first of these monitors the evolution of European identifications from 1982 to 1995, and compares the pride of EU citizens and political elites in being European. The second investigates whether EU citizens trust their fellow Europeans, and where the geographical borderline is drawn between ingroup and outgroup.Less
This chapter is the first of four on the question of legitimacy in the EU, and deals with the core question of whether and to what extent the citizens of the EU have grown together into a political community. The first section discusses the common European heritage, and sources of conflicts and diversity, and then introduces the concept of sense of political community, in which two dimensions are distinguished: identification (which refers to the citizens themselves) and ‘we‐feeling’ (which refers to fellow citizens). These two dimensions are compatible with modern theories of intergroup relations, and are discussed further in the next two sections of the chapter. The first of these monitors the evolution of European identifications from 1982 to 1995, and compares the pride of EU citizens and political elites in being European. The second investigates whether EU citizens trust their fellow Europeans, and where the geographical borderline is drawn between ingroup and outgroup.
J. Kevin O’Regan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199775224
- eISBN:
- 9780199919031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199775224.003.0083
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems
This chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that the sensorimotor approach, by taking feel as an abstract quality of our interaction with the environment, helps ...
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This chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that the sensorimotor approach, by taking feel as an abstract quality of our interaction with the environment, helps provide an explanation for consciousness in a biological or physical system. Far from being simply a philosophical stance, the sensorimotor approach makes empirically verifiable predictions and opens new research programs in topics such as visual attention, sensory substitution, color and tactile perception, and robotics.Less
This chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that the sensorimotor approach, by taking feel as an abstract quality of our interaction with the environment, helps provide an explanation for consciousness in a biological or physical system. Far from being simply a philosophical stance, the sensorimotor approach makes empirically verifiable predictions and opens new research programs in topics such as visual attention, sensory substitution, color and tactile perception, and robotics.
Lieve Van Hoof
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199583263
- eISBN:
- 9780191723131
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583263.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter deals with Plutarch's On Feeling Good, which presents itself as a letter written by Plutarch, who characterizes himself as a philosopher, at the demand of a publicly active man. As this ...
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This chapter deals with Plutarch's On Feeling Good, which presents itself as a letter written by Plutarch, who characterizes himself as a philosopher, at the demand of a publicly active man. As this chapter shows, Plutarch and his addressee are both dramatic characters designed to guide the reader's responses. In contrast to what other philosophers suggest, Plutarch does not encourage Paccius to give up public activity if he is to achieve well-being, nor to devote himself to studying philosophical intricacies: the help he offers him in this practical ethical text will be enough. This advice was tailor-made for Plutarch's target readers, who often placed a high value on involvement in society, yet it also had the advantage of reserving the role of philosopher exclusively for Plutarch himself.Less
This chapter deals with Plutarch's On Feeling Good, which presents itself as a letter written by Plutarch, who characterizes himself as a philosopher, at the demand of a publicly active man. As this chapter shows, Plutarch and his addressee are both dramatic characters designed to guide the reader's responses. In contrast to what other philosophers suggest, Plutarch does not encourage Paccius to give up public activity if he is to achieve well-being, nor to devote himself to studying philosophical intricacies: the help he offers him in this practical ethical text will be enough. This advice was tailor-made for Plutarch's target readers, who often placed a high value on involvement in society, yet it also had the advantage of reserving the role of philosopher exclusively for Plutarch himself.
Claire Langhamer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266663
- eISBN:
- 9780191905384
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266663.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Based on material generated by the British social investigative organisation Mass Observation between 1944 and 1946 this chapter maps some of the political work that emotion did in the immediate ...
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Based on material generated by the British social investigative organisation Mass Observation between 1944 and 1946 this chapter maps some of the political work that emotion did in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. It adapts cultural theorist Sara Ahmed’s question ‘What do emotions do?’ to a precise historical moment. It approaches emotion through the lens of social, as well as cultural, history by asking an additional question: ‘What did people do with emotion?’ It examines how the interlinked categories of feeling and experience were invoked by individual Mass Observers as ways of knowing a rapidly changing world and as grounds for participating in a dynamic public sphere. The chapter argues that a distinctive form of ‘emotional citizenship’ emerged out of the war; one which deployed feeling as a form of epistemology and experience as an evidential base.Less
Based on material generated by the British social investigative organisation Mass Observation between 1944 and 1946 this chapter maps some of the political work that emotion did in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. It adapts cultural theorist Sara Ahmed’s question ‘What do emotions do?’ to a precise historical moment. It approaches emotion through the lens of social, as well as cultural, history by asking an additional question: ‘What did people do with emotion?’ It examines how the interlinked categories of feeling and experience were invoked by individual Mass Observers as ways of knowing a rapidly changing world and as grounds for participating in a dynamic public sphere. The chapter argues that a distinctive form of ‘emotional citizenship’ emerged out of the war; one which deployed feeling as a form of epistemology and experience as an evidential base.
Marcia Cavell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199287086
- eISBN:
- 9780191603921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199287082.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter argues that emotions are quintessentially subjective states that have important objective and public aspects. They are subjective in that the content of an emotion can be given only in ...
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This chapter argues that emotions are quintessentially subjective states that have important objective and public aspects. They are subjective in that the content of an emotion can be given only in the telling of a particular individual’s life story; they are objective as appraisals of reality. Emotions are orientations to the world that show how things matter to us, revealing the world in its relation to us, and ourselves in relation to the world. The difference between emotion and feeling is briefly discussed.Less
This chapter argues that emotions are quintessentially subjective states that have important objective and public aspects. They are subjective in that the content of an emotion can be given only in the telling of a particular individual’s life story; they are objective as appraisals of reality. Emotions are orientations to the world that show how things matter to us, revealing the world in its relation to us, and ourselves in relation to the world. The difference between emotion and feeling is briefly discussed.
Peter Stockwell
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748625819
- eISBN:
- 9780748651511
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748625819.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
This book represents the latest advances in cognitive poetics. It builds feeling and embodied experience on to the insights into meaningfulness that the cognitive approach to literature has achieved ...
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This book represents the latest advances in cognitive poetics. It builds feeling and embodied experience on to the insights into meaningfulness that the cognitive approach to literature has achieved in recent years. Taking key familiar concepts such as characterisation, tone, empathy, and identification, the book aims to describe the natural experience of literary reading in a thorough and principled way. It draws on stylistics, psycholinguistics, critical theory and neurology to explore the nature of reading verbal art. The aim is a new cognitive aesthetics of literature for its readers.Less
This book represents the latest advances in cognitive poetics. It builds feeling and embodied experience on to the insights into meaningfulness that the cognitive approach to literature has achieved in recent years. Taking key familiar concepts such as characterisation, tone, empathy, and identification, the book aims to describe the natural experience of literary reading in a thorough and principled way. It draws on stylistics, psycholinguistics, critical theory and neurology to explore the nature of reading verbal art. The aim is a new cognitive aesthetics of literature for its readers.
Hugh J. McCann
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195311952
- eISBN:
- 9780199871070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311952.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter discusses Audi's version of metaethical intuitionism, arguing that it faces significant objections. Without a basis for the theory's claims of self-evidence, it argues, moral intuitions ...
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This chapter discusses Audi's version of metaethical intuitionism, arguing that it faces significant objections. Without a basis for the theory's claims of self-evidence, it argues, moral intuitions can be charged with arbitrariness. Moreover, familiar problems concerning “queerness” and supervenience remain. This chapter proposes that moral intuitions are grounded in conative experiences of “felt obligation”. It then argues that his version of intuitionism preserves the virtues of Audi's approach—indeed sharing the spirit of Audi's theory—without succumbing to the skeptical problems.Less
This chapter discusses Audi's version of metaethical intuitionism, arguing that it faces significant objections. Without a basis for the theory's claims of self-evidence, it argues, moral intuitions can be charged with arbitrariness. Moreover, familiar problems concerning “queerness” and supervenience remain. This chapter proposes that moral intuitions are grounded in conative experiences of “felt obligation”. It then argues that his version of intuitionism preserves the virtues of Audi's approach—indeed sharing the spirit of Audi's theory—without succumbing to the skeptical problems.
Curtis J. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328189
- eISBN:
- 9780199870028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328189.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores how the conversion of African slaves in the British North American colonies to Christianity became an object of analysis and how debates about the role that blacks would play in ...
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This chapter explores how the conversion of African slaves in the British North American colonies to Christianity became an object of analysis and how debates about the role that blacks would play in the American nation focused on their religion. The chapter examines the crucial connection between denials of African intellectual capacity and assertions of the uniqueness of slave religious expression. Romantic racialists like Harriet Beecher Stowe asserted that black slaves were naturally or peculiarly religious and their explanation of black religion as feeling or emotion became the dominant paradigm for understandings of black cultural contributions to the United States. Yet there was an inherent tension in this view of black religion because it linked black uniqueness to Africa and painted a rather hazy picture about the specific nature of black participation in America, if slavery were to be abolished. Romantic racialists left their legatees with a conflicted notion of intellectually inferior Africans in their midst with alleged special religious qualities as the locus of their potential contribution of an ambiguous “spiritual softness” to American culture.Less
This chapter explores how the conversion of African slaves in the British North American colonies to Christianity became an object of analysis and how debates about the role that blacks would play in the American nation focused on their religion. The chapter examines the crucial connection between denials of African intellectual capacity and assertions of the uniqueness of slave religious expression. Romantic racialists like Harriet Beecher Stowe asserted that black slaves were naturally or peculiarly religious and their explanation of black religion as feeling or emotion became the dominant paradigm for understandings of black cultural contributions to the United States. Yet there was an inherent tension in this view of black religion because it linked black uniqueness to Africa and painted a rather hazy picture about the specific nature of black participation in America, if slavery were to be abolished. Romantic racialists left their legatees with a conflicted notion of intellectually inferior Africans in their midst with alleged special religious qualities as the locus of their potential contribution of an ambiguous “spiritual softness” to American culture.
Lieve Van Hoof
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199583263
- eISBN:
- 9780191723131
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583263.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
The Second Sophistic was a time of intense competition for honour and status. Like today, this often caused mental as well as physical stress for the elite of the Roman Empire. This book studies ...
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The Second Sophistic was a time of intense competition for honour and status. Like today, this often caused mental as well as physical stress for the elite of the Roman Empire. This book studies Plutarch's practical ethics, a group of twenty-odd texts within the Moralia designed to help powerful Greeks and Romans manage their ambitions and society's expectations successfully. According to Plutarch (c. AD 45–120), the key for a happy life lies with philosophy, yet instead of advancing philosophical values as an alternative for worldly ambitions, as did other philosophers, he presents philosophy as a way towards distinction and success in imperial society. By thus subtly redefining what elite culture should be like, Plutarch also firmly establishes himself as an intellectual and cultural authority. This book combines a systematic analysis of the general principles underlying Plutarch's practical ethics, including the author's target readership, therapeutical practices, and self-presentation, with innovative interpretations of five case studies (On Feeling Good, On Exile, On Talkativeress, On Cuiusity, Precepts of Health Care). A picture emerges of philosophy under the Roman Empire not as a set of abstract, theoretical doctrines, but as a kind of symbolic capital engendering power and prestige for author and reader alike. Transcending the boundaries between literature, social history, and philosophy, Van Hoof makes a strong case for the pertinence and vitality of this often neglected group of texts, and incisively shows Plutarch to be not just a philanthropic adviser, but also a sophisticated author strategically manipulating his own cultural capital in pursuit of influence and glory.Less
The Second Sophistic was a time of intense competition for honour and status. Like today, this often caused mental as well as physical stress for the elite of the Roman Empire. This book studies Plutarch's practical ethics, a group of twenty-odd texts within the Moralia designed to help powerful Greeks and Romans manage their ambitions and society's expectations successfully. According to Plutarch (c. AD 45–120), the key for a happy life lies with philosophy, yet instead of advancing philosophical values as an alternative for worldly ambitions, as did other philosophers, he presents philosophy as a way towards distinction and success in imperial society. By thus subtly redefining what elite culture should be like, Plutarch also firmly establishes himself as an intellectual and cultural authority. This book combines a systematic analysis of the general principles underlying Plutarch's practical ethics, including the author's target readership, therapeutical practices, and self-presentation, with innovative interpretations of five case studies (On Feeling Good, On Exile, On Talkativeress, On Cuiusity, Precepts of Health Care). A picture emerges of philosophy under the Roman Empire not as a set of abstract, theoretical doctrines, but as a kind of symbolic capital engendering power and prestige for author and reader alike. Transcending the boundaries between literature, social history, and philosophy, Van Hoof makes a strong case for the pertinence and vitality of this often neglected group of texts, and incisively shows Plutarch to be not just a philanthropic adviser, but also a sophisticated author strategically manipulating his own cultural capital in pursuit of influence and glory.
Sarah M. S. Pearsall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199532995
- eISBN:
- 9780191714443
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199532995.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The Atlantic represented a world of opportunity in the 18th century, but it represented division also, separating families across its coasts. Whether due to economic shifts, changing political ...
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The Atlantic represented a world of opportunity in the 18th century, but it represented division also, separating families across its coasts. Whether due to economic shifts, changing political landscapes, imperial ambitions, or even simply personal tragedy, many families found themselves fractured and disoriented by the growth and later fissure of a larger Atlantic world. Such dislocation posed considerable challenges to all individuals who viewed orderly family relations as both a general and a personal ideal. The more fortunate individuals who thus found themselves ‘all at sea’ were able to use family letters, with attendant emphases on familiarity, sensibility, and credit, in order to remain connected in times and places of great disconnection. Portraying the family as a unified, affectionate, and happy entity in such letters provided a means of surmounting concerns about societies fractured by physical distance, global wars, and increasing social stratification. It could also afford social and economic leverage to individual men and women in certain circumstances. This book explores the lives and letters of these families, revealing the sometimes shocking stories of those divided by sea in a series of microhistories. Ranging across the Anglophone Atlantic, including mainland American colonies and states, Britain, and the British Caribbean, the book argues that it was this expanding Atlantic world — much more than the American Revolution — that reshaped contemporary ideals about families, as much as families themselves reshaped the transatlantic world.Less
The Atlantic represented a world of opportunity in the 18th century, but it represented division also, separating families across its coasts. Whether due to economic shifts, changing political landscapes, imperial ambitions, or even simply personal tragedy, many families found themselves fractured and disoriented by the growth and later fissure of a larger Atlantic world. Such dislocation posed considerable challenges to all individuals who viewed orderly family relations as both a general and a personal ideal. The more fortunate individuals who thus found themselves ‘all at sea’ were able to use family letters, with attendant emphases on familiarity, sensibility, and credit, in order to remain connected in times and places of great disconnection. Portraying the family as a unified, affectionate, and happy entity in such letters provided a means of surmounting concerns about societies fractured by physical distance, global wars, and increasing social stratification. It could also afford social and economic leverage to individual men and women in certain circumstances. This book explores the lives and letters of these families, revealing the sometimes shocking stories of those divided by sea in a series of microhistories. Ranging across the Anglophone Atlantic, including mainland American colonies and states, Britain, and the British Caribbean, the book argues that it was this expanding Atlantic world — much more than the American Revolution — that reshaped contemporary ideals about families, as much as families themselves reshaped the transatlantic world.
Lieve Van Hoof
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199583263
- eISBN:
- 9780191723131
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583263.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter is, as it were, the counterpart of On Feeling Good: in a kind of open letter, Plutarch here teaches that exclusion from politics does not have to lead to unhappiness. It is noteworthy, ...
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This chapter is, as it were, the counterpart of On Feeling Good: in a kind of open letter, Plutarch here teaches that exclusion from politics does not have to lead to unhappiness. It is noteworthy, in this respect, that Plutarch exploited the theme of exile not, as other authors did, to discuss philosophy, but to discuss politics: he explicitly refuses to see exile as a turning point at which to opt for a philosophical life. At first sight, this is an altruistic project offering comfort to a man attached to politics with its concomitant honour and fame. Yet careful examination shows that Plutarch may be promoting his own life as well: if he did not make the same political career as some of his readers, he uses On Exile to present that as a sign not of weakness but of strength.Less
This chapter is, as it were, the counterpart of On Feeling Good: in a kind of open letter, Plutarch here teaches that exclusion from politics does not have to lead to unhappiness. It is noteworthy, in this respect, that Plutarch exploited the theme of exile not, as other authors did, to discuss philosophy, but to discuss politics: he explicitly refuses to see exile as a turning point at which to opt for a philosophical life. At first sight, this is an altruistic project offering comfort to a man attached to politics with its concomitant honour and fame. Yet careful examination shows that Plutarch may be promoting his own life as well: if he did not make the same political career as some of his readers, he uses On Exile to present that as a sign not of weakness but of strength.
Emily Frey
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691182711
- eISBN:
- 9780691185514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691182711.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
This chapter looks at Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden) in the political context of the era, namely within a particular branch of 1870s populism that extolled “harmonious communal ...
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This chapter looks at Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden) in the political context of the era, namely within a particular branch of 1870s populism that extolled “harmonious communal ritual, agrarian prehistory, and the development of individual feeling.” Together, the Snegurochkas of Alexander Ostrovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov offer perhaps the clearest representations in art of the populist notion of the ideal past, depicting the prehistoric village as a site of social cooperation and humane politics. Indeed, in his adaptation of Snegurochka, Rimsky-Korsakov united an idealized vision of the past with the progress of private, inner feeling. Meanwhile, Russia's thick journals of the seventies brimmed with articles by populist thinkers like Nikolai Mikhailovsky and stories about village life by writers such as Gleb Uspensky and Nikolai Zlatovratsky.Less
This chapter looks at Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden) in the political context of the era, namely within a particular branch of 1870s populism that extolled “harmonious communal ritual, agrarian prehistory, and the development of individual feeling.” Together, the Snegurochkas of Alexander Ostrovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov offer perhaps the clearest representations in art of the populist notion of the ideal past, depicting the prehistoric village as a site of social cooperation and humane politics. Indeed, in his adaptation of Snegurochka, Rimsky-Korsakov united an idealized vision of the past with the progress of private, inner feeling. Meanwhile, Russia's thick journals of the seventies brimmed with articles by populist thinkers like Nikolai Mikhailovsky and stories about village life by writers such as Gleb Uspensky and Nikolai Zlatovratsky.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0015
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter focuses on a radical breakthrough into the knowledge of new medicine. It happened in antiquity, when technical media were still quite limited. All body processes had to be visible from ...
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This chapter focuses on a radical breakthrough into the knowledge of new medicine. It happened in antiquity, when technical media were still quite limited. All body processes had to be visible from the outside by looking at color changes of the skin or tongue, by smelling odors of the body or mouth, by listening to the pitch of the voice, or by feeling the pulse. Only the patient had the opportunity to look inside himself or herself and could communicate feelings spontaneously or at the request of an observer. Medical imaging allows for the observing of the live functioning of a heart valve, on a monitor. One can accurately depict details of cell division and many other processes. But even today, the most fundamental level of the causality of many changes remains hidden from view. People have developed completely different views on new medicine despite having the same object of study, such as the healthy or sick person.Less
This chapter focuses on a radical breakthrough into the knowledge of new medicine. It happened in antiquity, when technical media were still quite limited. All body processes had to be visible from the outside by looking at color changes of the skin or tongue, by smelling odors of the body or mouth, by listening to the pitch of the voice, or by feeling the pulse. Only the patient had the opportunity to look inside himself or herself and could communicate feelings spontaneously or at the request of an observer. Medical imaging allows for the observing of the live functioning of a heart valve, on a monitor. One can accurately depict details of cell division and many other processes. But even today, the most fundamental level of the causality of many changes remains hidden from view. People have developed completely different views on new medicine despite having the same object of study, such as the healthy or sick person.
Philip Kitcher and Richard Schacht
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195183603
- eISBN:
- 9780199850457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183603.003.0022
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
Two of the five endings shown in Wagner’s Ring are evidently celebratory. Although this ecstatic mood is carried over two operas later, this chapter observes how these instances exhibit a deceptive ...
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Two of the five endings shown in Wagner’s Ring are evidently celebratory. Although this ecstatic mood is carried over two operas later, this chapter observes how these instances exhibit a deceptive feel. In one case, we experience arrogance and in the other, we notice unstable emotions. Despite how the other three endings in the drama exude a darker impression by accompanying situations of loss and defeat, all of these instances seem to be more affirmative. This chapter discusses the musical effects employed to make the atmosphere of the scenes more powerful and understandable. As the five endings structure the drama through providing deceptive triumph, hope, and other such emotions, the judgment of the closing plot is both affirmative and tragic. However, it is emphasized that as the world ends, it should be noted that the earth remains and is still capable of achieving renewal.Less
Two of the five endings shown in Wagner’s Ring are evidently celebratory. Although this ecstatic mood is carried over two operas later, this chapter observes how these instances exhibit a deceptive feel. In one case, we experience arrogance and in the other, we notice unstable emotions. Despite how the other three endings in the drama exude a darker impression by accompanying situations of loss and defeat, all of these instances seem to be more affirmative. This chapter discusses the musical effects employed to make the atmosphere of the scenes more powerful and understandable. As the five endings structure the drama through providing deceptive triumph, hope, and other such emotions, the judgment of the closing plot is both affirmative and tragic. However, it is emphasized that as the world ends, it should be noted that the earth remains and is still capable of achieving renewal.
