The Moral Psychology of Sadness

(Hardback)

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What does it mean to be sad What difference does it make whether, how, and why we experience our own, and other peoples, sadness Is sadness always appropriate and can it be a way of seeing more clearly into ourselves and others In this volume, a multi-disciplinary team of scholars - from fields including philosophy, womens and gender studies, bioethics and public health, and neuroscience - addresses these and other questions related to this nearly-universal emotion that all of us experience, and that some of us dread. Somewhat surprisingly, sadness has been largely ignored by philosophers and others within the humanities, or else under-theorized as a subject worthy of serious and careful attention. This volume reverses this trend, presenting sadness as not merely a feeling or affect, but an emotion of great moral significance that in important ways underwrites how we understand ourselves and each other.

Reviews

In its fine exploration of different kinds or aspects of sadnessgrief, heartbreak, nostalgiathis remarkable collection sheds entirely fresh light on an emotion to which philosophers have paid scant attention. Here we have an example of moral philosophy at its best. -- Hilde Lindemann, Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University
In the moral psychology literature, much has been written about happiness and almost nothing about sadness.Anna Gotlibs edited volume on the moral psychology of sadness fills a significant gap in the literature by conveying a variety of ways that sadness as an emotion plays a crucial role in our moral lives. -- Peggy DesAutels, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dayton and Director of the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status of Women
This lively and bold collection explores oft-neglected issues in philosophy that relate to negative and positive facets of sadness, including what grieving is, whether short-term sadness after a loved ones death is problematic, what matters to us when death is imminent, whether sadness can be good for us, and the meaning of nostalgia. Thought-provoking and tugs at the heart strings. -- Anita Superson, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky

Author Bio

Anna Gotlib is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brooklyn College CUNY.