1 - Studying Emotions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2009
Summary
WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
Anthony Trollope comments about an unsavory character who looms large in his novel The Prime Minister (Chapter 58):
The abuse which was now publicly heaped on the name of Ferdinand Lopez hit the man very hard; but not so hard perhaps as his rejection by Lady Eustace. That was an episode in his life of which even he felt ashamed, and of which he was unable to shake the disgrace from his memory. He had no inner appreciation whatsoever of what was really good or what was really bad in a man's conduct…. In a sense he was what is called a gentleman. He knew how to speak, and how to look, how to use a knife and fork, how to dress himself, and how to walk. But he had not the faintest notion of the feelings of a gentleman. He had, however, a very keen conception of the evil of being generally ill spoken of.
Without directly mentioning any of Lopez's actions, Trollope here unmistakably sketches a man of momentous moral defects, just by indicating his patterns of emotional responsiveness – that he is more ashamed of being rejected by a classy female adventurer than of being the object of public moral opprobrium, but not at all ashamed of his shameful deeds. His lack of appreciation for good and bad action, suggests Trollope, is due to his emotional unresponsiveness to actions in moral terms (notice how Trollope mixes descriptions of Lopez's emotional dispositions with cognitive ascriptions like “no inner appreciation,” “not the faintest notion,” “a very keen conception”).
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- Information
- EmotionsAn Essay in Aid of Moral Psychology, pp. 1 - 59Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003