Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Add to GoodReads

The Moral Psychology of Contempt

Edited by Michelle Mason

The eye roll, the smirk, the unilateral lip curl. These, psychologists tell us, are typical expressions of contempt. Across cultures, such expressions manifest an emotional response to norm violations, among them moral norms. As such, contempt is of tremendous personal and social significance – whether in the context of a marriage on the rocks or a country in the grips of racial unrest. Scholarship on contempt, however, lags far behind that of other emotional responses to norm violations, such as anger, disgust, and shame. Introducing original work by philosophers and psychologists, this volume addresses empirical questions concerning contempt’s emotional, cognitive, and behavioural signature. It invites the general reader to reflect on whether contempt is something to be embraced and cultivated as an emotional safeguard of valued norms or, rather, an emotion from which we have good reason – perhaps overriding moral reason – to distance ourselves so far as is psychologically possible. Advancing the nascent literature on contempt while setting future research agenda, the volume is a resource for advanced students and scholars of both empirical and normative moral psychology.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

Pages: 264 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-78660-415-6 • Hardback • March 2018 • $166.00 • (£129.00)

978-1-78660-416-3 • Paperback • June 2019 • $56.00 • (£43.00)

978-1-78660-417-0 • eBook • March 2018 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Series: Moral Psychology of the Emotions

Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Ethics / Applied Ethics

The Moral Psychology of Contempt

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

The eye roll, the smirk, the unilateral lip curl. These, psychologists tell us, are typical expressions of contempt. Across cultures, such expressions manifest an emotional response to norm violations, among them moral norms. As such, contempt is of tremendous personal and social significance – whether in the context of a marriage on the rocks or a country in the grips of racial unrest. Scholarship on contempt, however, lags far behind that of other emotional responses to norm violations, such as anger, disgust, and shame. Introducing original work by philosophers and psychologists, this volume addresses empirical questions concerning contempt’s emotional, cognitive, and behavioural signature. It invites the general reader to reflect on whether contempt is something to be embraced and cultivated as an emotional safeguard of valued norms or, rather, an emotion from which we have good reason – perhaps overriding moral reason – to distance ourselves so far as is psychologically possible. Advancing the nascent literature on contempt while setting future research agenda, the volume is a resource for advanced students and scholars of both empirical and normative moral psychology.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

Pages: 264 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-78660-415-6 • Hardback • March 2018 • $166.00 • (£129.00)

978-1-78660-416-3 • Paperback • June 2019 • $56.00 • (£43.00)

978-1-78660-417-0 • eBook • March 2018 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Series: Moral Psychology of the Emotions

Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Ethics / Applied Ethics

Author

Michelle Mason is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Her main research interests and publications are in moral psychology, including the nature and moral significance of person-focused evaluative attitudes (contempt, shame, pride, and love) and the connections between aretaic and rational appraisal of persons as agents.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Michelle Mason / 1. Contempt in Classical Moral Psychology, Michael Pakaluk / 2. Rejecting the Unworthy: The Causes, Components, and Consequences of Contempt, Ira Roseman / 3. Exploring Contempt Against the Background of Blame Bertram Malle, John Voiklis, and Boyoung Kim / 4. Contempt as a Dis-identifying AttitudeStephen Darwall / 5. Contempt in Arthurian Society and Ours Felicia Nimue Ackerman / 6., Contempt and AccountabilityZac Cogley / 7. Contempt at the Limits of Reactivity, Michelle Mason / 8. Above and Beneath Contempt David Sussman / 9. Moral Self-Preservation and ContemptKate Abramson / 10. Contempt, Honor, and Addressing Racism Macalester Bell / Bibliography / Index

The Moral Psychology of Contempt

Edited by Michelle Mason

The Moral Psychology of Contempt

ALSO AVAILABLE