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What, if anything, is wrong with publicly shaming someone? Should we feel anger at injustice? Does anger threaten our democratic culture? Is contempt the right response to racism? Are people taking offence too easily these days? Is it immoral to be amused by a sexist joke? Is it a good thing to be patriotic? What good is hope in contexts of oppression?

This course tackles a central political and social issue of our times: the role of emotions such as hatred, anger, patriotism, shame, and offence in our politics and society. Moral appraisals of the emotions and debates over their political significance have become popular subjects in moral and political philosophy. We will investigate questions such as, what is the social and moral value – or disvalue – of these emotions? When are these instrumentally beneficial, and when are they corrosive of our democratic culture or society? Informed by contemporary work in psychology, ethics, feminist philosophy, and political philosophy, this course will explore a range of emotions. The emotions covered may vary, but as an indicative list, we may consider emotions from anger, hatred, contempt, shame, and offence, to (patriotic) love, hope, and amusement.Ìý

Assessment: Students will be asked to choose a case study of an emotion felt in their lives or found in public culture/ political life and offer an ethical and philosophical appraisal of that emotion in a 3000 word essay, drawing on the module’s materials and readings. Examples of case studies and optional essay titles will also be made available.

It would be advisable to have done some philosophy or political theory modules in advance of choosing this option.