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Calls for Chapters
The Politics of Emotions and Values
Edited by Cecilea Mun
EDITED COLLECTION TITLE: The Politics of Emotions and Values (Revised for Global Submissions)
EDITOR: Cecilea Mun, PhD, is the author of Interdisciplinary Foundations for the Science of Emotion: Unification without Consilience (2021), the editor of Cultural Perspectives on Shame: Unities and Diversities (2024), a contributing editor of “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Shame: Methods, Theories, Norms, Cultures, and Politics” (2019), which was recommended by CHOICE), the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, and the founding director of the Society for Philosophy of Emotion.
DESCRIPTION OF EDITED COLLECTION: There is no question that politics is fraught with emotions, and one import of this fact for philosophers of emotion is the way in which our political emotions express our values. Our emotions express what it is that we hold dear, not only personally but as a value to be commended to community members. To this extent, political struggles are symptoms of a lack of clear consensus about which values ought to outweigh others, especially when at least two are in conflict, and is often indicative of future progress. For example, the outcries on both sides of the current Israel-Hamas war; the self-righteous convictions of those currently protesting against immigration at the Texas-Mexico border and the fears of those who are seeking asylum from the conditions that they are trying to flee; the triumphant joys of pro-life activist and the angers or fears of pro-choice activists upon hearing the U.S. Supreme Court’s judgment overturning Roe vs. Wade; the sighs of relief felt by many when former President Trump was found liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, perhaps against the fears of many others in the United States; and the distraught helplessness of the residence of “Cancer Alley” (between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA) over the self-assured resolve of industrial plant companies to continue to grow their industry in this location. The question, then, is how ought these conflicts of values be analyzed in light of the emotions to which they give rise, how can they be resolved, and in what way can emotions play a role in their resolution? What are the values that are or ought to be conferred, rejected, justified, etc., and how do our emotions play a role in informing us about these values, as well as help us decide on a feasible path forward?
To help answer these and similarly related questions, as well as to help document the current political struggles of our time, I am putting together an edited collection on the politics of emotions and values. I invite scholars from all over the world to submit complete and polished original, unpublished chapters, in English, or relevant previously published chapters. Each chapter should focus on a detailed analysis of a political conflict with respect to a concrete public policy, with well-founded policy information and relevant empirical support, and identify the import of at least one emotion type in the analysis. The overarching aim of each chapter should be to provide an analysis of the import of emotion which would help undergraduate and graduate students, as well as policy makers, think through how the philosophy of emotions can help us understand the complexity of these political policy conflicts, as well as their possible resolutions. The idea is, even if an argued for resolution is "wrong," whatever that means, the argument itself for that solution should help people further clarify their own decision making. Yet, all chapter contributions must provide accurate policy information, employ rigorous empirical research wherever necessary, and contain no false claims. This edited collection also aims to provide a broad perspective on political conflicts of concern, with the implicit assumption that a solution to any of the problems raised in the edited collection will ultimately lie in the mind of the reader, upon their well-informed, deliberated readings of the chapters presented. I welcome voices and perspectives from all sides of an issue, as long as an attitude of respect is maintained for all sides. For previously published works, authors must have the appropriate copyrights and provide the appropriate permission(s) for publication. Please note, however, that only a limited number of chapters may be from previously published work. Please feel free to email me in advance to vet your idea for your chapter before writing it, and I welcome potential authors to coordinate complementing chapters with other potential authors.
FORMATTING & COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: Each chapter should be approximately 8,000 words in length (not including references) and should follow the most recent Chicago Manual of Style author-date style guideline. Please refer to the Cultural Perspectives on Shame: Unities and Diversities (2024) and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Shame: Methods, Theories, Norms, Cultures, and Politics (2019), for more specific examples of style.
TIMELINE TO PUBLICATION: The following is the expected timeline to publication.
1. Completed chapters will be due August 31, 2024.
2. Requested revisions will be conducted from September 2024-December 2024.
3. A completed proposal, with completed chapters, will be circulated to publishers for publication by January 1, 2025.
4. Contingent upon a publication contract, the expected publication date is sometime in late 2025.
SUBMISSION & CONTACT INSTRUCTIONS: Please submit your completed chapter, along with your CV, to Cecilea Mun (cecileamun[at]icloud[dot]com) by August 31, 2024. Authors will be contacted in September 2024.
MONOGRAPHS
Sample Chapter:Chapter 1: One's Gavagai Is Another's Rabbit, but Does Either Know?
(Please click here to request a free copy for a book review)
If you would also prefer a different chapter as a sample, please email me.
In this book, Cecilea Mun introduces an innovative meta-framework for conducting interdisciplinary research in the science of emotion, broadly construed, as well as a framework for a particular kind of theory of emotion. She provides new solutions and arguments in support of an embodied cognitive approach to resolving a wide range of problems, including those concerning skepticism, the place of ordinary intuitions for the science of emotion, intentionality, the rationality of emotions, naturalizing knowledge, and the debate between philosophical cognitive and noncognitive theories of emotion. Her solutions include a revolutionary, unifying, interdisciplinary taxonomy of theories of emotion, which allows one to understand the discourse in the science of emotion as a debate between four fundamental types of theories: realism, instrumentalism, eliminativism, and eliminative-realism. Her original proposal for a conception of intentionality that makes sense of our ordinary intuitions is also combined with her comprehensive account of rationality to articulate a groundbreaking understanding of the structure of human rationality. All of the contributions made herein, together, provide the foundations for a profound understanding of emotions, including as a kind of embodied language.
Reviews
"Cecilea Mun’s Interdisciplinary Foundations for the Science of Emotion is an outstanding work. Mun is in complete control of the philosophy and psychology of emotions and all the major disputes about the nature and function of the emotions. Among the many virtues of this fine book are the attempts to read every theory charitably, to embed emotions science in a credible naturalistic theory of consciousness, and to make helpful practical recommendations for how to conduct interdisciplinary inquiry on the emotions."
— Owen Flanagan, PhD, Duke University, Durham, NC
"Interdisciplinary Foundations for the Science of Emotion offers profound and broad analyses regarding the ontology, nature, teleology, and other aspects of our emotions. By bringing the tools that various disciplines from philosophy to psychology to neuroscience has to bear on these challenging set of issues, the reader will inevitably gain new insights and appreciations for what emotions bring to the human condition."
— Ken Solis, MD, MA
EDITED COLLECTIONS
Summary
Each essay in this volume provides a cultural perspective on shame. More specifically, each chapter focuses on the question of how culture can differentially affect experiences of shame for members of that culture. As a collection, this volume provides a cross-cultural perspective on shame, highlighting the various similarities and differences of experiences of shame across cultures.
In Part 1, each contributor focuses primarily on how shame is theorized in a non-English-speaking culture, and address how the science of shame ought to be pursued, how it ought to identify its object of study, what methods are appropriate for a rigorous science of shame, and how a method of study can determine or influence a theory of shame. In Part 2, each contributor is primarily concerned with a cultural practice of shame, and addresses how shame is related to a normative understanding of our self as a person and an individual member of a community, how culture and politics affect the value and import of shame, and what the relationship between culture and politics is in the construction of shamed identities.
Cultural Perspectives on Shame will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in cross-cultural philosophy, philosophy of emotion, moral psychology, and the social sciences.
"This impressive collection of scholarships on shame, seen through a diversity of cultural lens, is a must read for anyone who is interested in gaining a wider perspective on the subject beyond the standard account in the West."
— Louise Sundararajan, PhD, Independent Scholar
"This book offers a brilliant survey of how 'shame' is understood in diverse non-western traditions in the comparative light of contemporary global theory. Beyond conventional western definitions of shame, this volume extends meanings and values of shame through introducing theories and embodied practices from trans-cultural perspectives, and Asian and comparative analysis."
— Jea Sophia Oh, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
"This volume poses the question: what can we learn about shame by exploring it in a wide variety of cultural contexts? Such an exploration demonstrates the nuances of a complex emotion. The essays invite readers to reimagine theoretical boundaries that are often put in place by those of us who are steeped primarily in the Western tradition. The volume is a great help to anyone who wants to enlarge the conversation about the place of shame in moral psychology."
— Krista K. Thomason, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Swarthmore College
Shame is one of the most stigmatized and stigmatizing of emotions. Often characterized as an emotion in which the subject holds a global, negative self-assessment, shame is typically understood to mark the subject as being inadequate in some way, and a sizable amount of work on shame focuses on its problematic or unhealthy aspects, effects, or consequences. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Shame brings into view a more balanced understanding of what shame is and its value and social function. The contributors recognize shame as a complex, richly layered, conscious or unconscious phenomenon, and the collection offers an understanding of what shame is, the scholarly discourse on shame, and how theories of shame help us to understand ourselves, others, and the world around us. It also highlights a diverse range of perspectives on shame, and how these unique perspectives can enlighten our understanding of both the positive and negative aspects of this powerful emotion. Edited by Cecilea Mun, the ten chapters by an international group of contributors reflect a broad range of methods, disciplinary perspectives, and both theoretical and practical concerns regarding shame.
"Mun (philosophy, Arizona State Univ.) has assembled a fine collection of essays on the "methods, theories, norms, cultures, and politics" of shame. Shame often receives critical attention as a negative emotion, but this collection of ten essays offers a balanced view of the emotion, paying attention to its positive social functions and its value as a tool for negotiating one's relationship to the world. Shame has both positive and negative features, and this combination is precisely what renders it such a powerful emotion on individual and social levels of enactment. Examining the phenomenon of shame across disciplines, cultures, and texts, the contributors look at the complexity of shame as a response to self, others, and the world. Essays treat the science and philosophy of shame and its social and political functions in social media, literature, and queer culture. Offering an excellent introduction to and integration of analyses of shame to date, this volume will appeal to students, practitioners, and scholars with disciplinary interests as varied as literature, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and psychotherapy."
Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.
— CHOICE
"According to many psychologists and philosophers, shame is a painful emotion of the vulnerable self, an ugly and negative feeling and a destructive and pathological state of the mind. By breaking and softening the boundaries of academic disciplines and adopting integrative viewpoints, however, Cecilea Mun and the authors of this volume carefully develop inclusive and holistic interpretations of shame to demonstrate that shame is more than a negative and self-critical emotion with depressive feeling and reactive attitude. In their chapters, they argue convincingly that shame is the unique and powerful human experience of self-consciousness, interpersonal relation, norm, culture, politics, body, ontology, phenomenology, and rationality. This volume provides much-needed multidimensional analysis of shame and expands the horizon of how we study and understand shame with an insightful and stimulating collection of essays, a valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary study of shame that both scholars and students can benefit from."
— Bongrae Seok, PhD, Alvernia University
"An excellent collection of interdisciplinary theorizing and insight about shame. From Nietzsche to post-apartheid South Africa, from Neoliberalism to Queer Theory. A perfect range of suggestive opinions for the engaged researcher."
— David Nash, PhD, Oxford Brookes University