An expansive look at how culture shapes our emotions--and how we can
benefit, as individuals and a society, from less anger and more shame
The world today is full of anger. Everywhere we look, we see values
clashing and tempers rising, in ways that seem frenzied, aimless, and
cruel. At the same time, we witness political leaders and others who
lack any sense of shame, even as they display carelessness with the
truth and the common good. In How to Do Things with Emotions, Owen
Flanagan explains that emotions are things we do, and he reminds us that
those like anger and shame involve cultural norms and scripts. The ways
we do these emotions offer no guarantee of emotionally or ethically
balanced lives--but still we can control and change how such emotions
are done. Flanagan makes a passionate case for tuning down anger and
tuning up shame, and he observes how cultures around the world can show
us how to perform these emotions better.
Through comparative insights from anthropology, psychology, and
cross-cultural philosophy, Flanagan reveals an incredible range in the
expression of anger and shame across societies. He establishes that
certain types of anger--such as those that lead to revenge or passing
hurt on to others--are more destructive than we imagine. Certain forms
of shame, on the other hand, can protect positive values, including
courage, kindness, and honesty. Flanagan proposes that we should embrace
shame as a uniquely socializing emotion, one that can promote moral
progress where undisciplined anger cannot.
How to Do Things with Emotions celebrates the plasticity of our
emotional responses--and our freedom to recalibrate them in the pursuit
of more fulfilling lives.
