Alchemies of the Mind
Rationality and the Emotions

A comprehensive book on the emotions considering the full range of theoretical approaches.

Jon Elster (Author)

9780521644877, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 November 1998

464 pages
23 x 15.3 x 2.7 cm, 0.635 kg

'Gives much pleasure and instruction.' London Review of Books

Jon Elster has written a comprehensive, wide-ranging book on the emotions in which he considers the full range of theoretical approaches. Drawing on history, literature, philosophy and psychology, Elster presents a complete account of the role of the emotions in human behaviour. While acknowledging the importance of neurophysiology and laboratory experiment for the study of emotions, Elster argues that the serious student of the emotions can learn more from the great thinkers and writers of the past, from Aristotle to Jane Austen. He attaches particular importance to the work of the French moralists, notably La Rochefoucauld, who demonstrated the way esteem and self-esteem shape human motivation. The book also maintains a running dialogue with economists and rational-choice theorists. Combining methodological and theoretical arguments with empirical case-studies and written with Elster's customary verve and economy, this book has great cross-disciplinary appeal.

Preface and acknowledgments
Part I. A Plea for Mechanisms: 1. Introduction
2. Explaining by mechanisms
3. Proverbial mechanisms
4. Mechanisms in Montaigne
5. Mechanisms in Tocqueville
6. Some elementary mechanisms
7. Molecular mechanisms
8. From mechanisms to laws
9. A plea for disaggregation
Part II. Emotions before Psychology: 1. Introduction
2. Aristotle on the emotions
3. The French moralists
4. Emotion in literature
Part III. Social Emotions in Historical Context: 1. Introduction
2. Shame and social norms
3. Envy in social life
4. Honor, duels, and feuds
Part IV. Rationality and the Emotions: 1. Introduction
2. The nature of emotion
3. Rationality and the emotions
Appendix
Part V. Alchemies of the Mind: 1. Introduction
2. Transmutation
3. Misrepresentation
Coda.

Subject Areas: The self, ego, identity, personality [JMS], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Behavioural theory [Behaviourism JMAL], Philosophy of mind [HPM]