Description

Book Synopsis
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Emotions are complex mental states that resist reduction. They are visceral reactions but also beliefs about the world. They are spontaneous outbursts but also culturally learned performances. They are intimate and private and yet gain their substance and significance only from interpersonal and social frameworks. And just as our emotions in any given moment display this complex structure, so their history is plural rather than singular. The history of emotions is where the history of ideas meets the history of the body, and where the history of subjectivity meets social and cultural history.In this Very Short Introduction, Thomas Dixon traces the historical ancestries of feelings ranging from sorrow, melancholy, rage, and terror to cheerfulness, enthusiasm, sympathy, and love. The picture that emerges is a complex one, showing how the states we group together today as the emotions are the product of long and varied histor

Table of Contents
Preface Acknowledgements List of illustrations 1: The pulse of the past 2: A map of woe 3: From passions to emojis 4: Terror and the pursuit of happiness 5: All the rages 6: Looking for love References and further reading Index

The History of Emotions

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    A Paperback / softback by Thomas Dixon

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      Book details

      Publisher Oxford University Press
      Published 25 May 2023
      ISBN-13 9780198818298
      978-0198818298
      ISBN-10 0198818297
      Also in:
      History Historiography Politics, Philosophy & Society History of ideas Sociology and anthropology

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Emotions are complex mental states that resist reduction. They are visceral reactions but also beliefs about the world. They are spontaneous outbursts but also culturally learned performances. They are intimate and private and yet gain their substance and significance only from interpersonal and social frameworks. And just as our emotions in any given moment display this complex structure, so their history is plural rather than singular. The history of emotions is where the history of ideas meets the history of the body, and where the history of subjectivity meets social and cultural history.In this Very Short Introduction, Thomas Dixon traces the historical ancestries of feelings ranging from sorrow, melancholy, rage, and terror to cheerfulness, enthusiasm, sympathy, and love. The picture that emerges is a complex one, showing how the states we group together today as the emotions are the product of long and varied histor

      Table of Contents
      Preface Acknowledgements List of illustrations 1: The pulse of the past 2: A map of woe 3: From passions to emojis 4: Terror and the pursuit of happiness 5: All the rages 6: Looking for love References and further reading Index

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