Interdisciplinary Approaches to Emotions

The academic study of emotions has developed since the 1980’s in different disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, literature, law and religious studies. It therefore appears as an ideal topic to consider from an interdisciplinary perspective, especially after about three decades of research in independent fields with few intersections between them. In this cluster, our main goal is to study different approaches to emotions, and see how different perspectives, when crossed, can deepen each other and provide a broader and more accurate background. Among other issues, we would like to consider: the definition of emotions (and cognate terms) from different approaches (psychological, philosophical, etc.), in different historical periods, and in different cultural settings; the diverse cultural representations of emotions (in literature, art, rituals, popular culture, etc.); the intersection between the private and the social that emotions or their representations may imply; the function, use and impact of emotions in individual and social life; the emotional development of the individual; the social construction of emotions (appropriate or inappropriate) and their functions in politics.