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QUESTIONS D’ÉTHIQUE CONTEMPORAINE:
ÉMOTIONS, DÉSIRS ET ÉTHIQUE
Christine Tappolet
PHI 6520 – Automne 2016
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Un terrain compliqué
• 1ère source de complication : les phénomènes affectifs
sont multiples et variés (épisodes émotionnels,
dispositions, humeurs, etc.).
• 2nde source de complication: les émotions se divisent en
genre différents (peur, colère, indignation, amae, pa-leng,
etc.).
• 3ème source de complication: les émotions semblent être
des entités complexes.
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Composantes typiques
• a) a sensory experience or more generally an
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informational component (cognitive basis)
b) a kind of appraisal
c) physiological changes
d) facial expressions
e) characteristic feelings
f) cognitive and attentional processes
g) an action-tendency or some other kind of motivational
component
• Question: What, if any, are the essential component of
emotions?
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Theories of emotions
• Feeling Theories(James 1884; Lange 1885; Whiting
2006)
• Conative Theories (Frijda 1986; Scarantino 2015; Deonna
& Teroni)
• Cognitive Theories
• Terminology: “cognitive” is used here in a broad sense,
according to which a cognitive mental state is one that
has representational content.
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Two kinds of cognitive theories
• Judgemental Theories (Solomon 1976; Nussbaum 2001)
and Quasi-Judgemental Theories (Greenspan 1988;
Roberts 1988; Armon-Jones 1991), according to which
the content of emotions is conceptually articulated.
• Perceptual Theories, according to which the content of
emotions is not conceptually articulated (Meinong 1917;
de Sousa 1987; Charland 1995; Elgin 1996; Stocker
1996; Johnston 2001; Döring 2003; Zagzebski 2003;
Prinz 2004; Deonna 2006; Tye 2006; Betzler 2009;
Wringe 2015).