Essay- philosophy
Budget: $30 – $40 USD
Reading: Jerome A. Shaffer, “An Assessment of Emotion,” American Philosophical Quarterly 20, no. 2 (1983): 161-173.
In his article “An Assessment of Emotion,” Jerome A. Shaffer makes the following claim:
From a rational and moral point of view, I can see no possibility of a general justification of emotion. And it is easy enough to imagine individual lives and even a whole world in which things would be much better if there were no emotion. (p. 169)
Discuss Shaffer’s claim, while addressing the following points:
1) Explain the analysis of emotions on which Shaffer relies in the article.
2) Present three (or more) of the arguments introduced by Shaffer in support of his
claim (in ordinary language or formally structured).
3) What are two (or more) ways in which the article’s analysis might be wrong and
thus rendered invalid?
4) Do you agree with Shaffer’s conclusion? Explain your opinion, while making
concrete references to at least one of the readings discussed in the colloquium.2
In his article “An Assessment of Emotion,” Jerome A. Shaffer makes the following claim:
From a rational and moral point of view, I can see no possibility of a general justification of emotion. And it is easy enough to imagine individual lives and even a whole world in which things would be much better if there were no emotion. (p. 169)
Discuss Shaffer’s claim, while addressing the following points:
1) Explain the analysis of emotions on which Shaffer relies in the article.
2) Present three (or more) of the arguments introduced by Shaffer in support of his
claim (in ordinary language or formally structured).
3) What are two (or more) ways in which the article’s analysis might be wrong and
thus rendered invalid?
4) Do you agree with Shaffer’s conclusion? Explain your opinion, while making
concrete references to at least one of the readings discussed in the colloquium.2