The arts can play an important role in the understanding of emotions. There are the emotions represented by works of art (literature, painting, music, and film) and those aroused in the receiver (reader or spectator or listener). Among the emotions aroused in the receiver one can distinguish between affective responses to the aesthetic values of the work of art (the beautiful, the graceful, the sublime, the tragic, the comic, etc.) and the types of emotion felt by the receivers insofar as they take part in the represented emotions as if they were real. Literature and the arts can stimulate the receivers to sharpen their imagination and refine their ability to feel emotions and analyze them (sentimental education). The study of literature and the arts can therefore collaborate with the psychology and philosophy of emotion, in particular by contributing a degree of concreteness, detail and richness in describing or suggesting the intricate transformations and evolution of emotions through time.
This research focus, coordinated by Patrizia Lombardo and Klaus Scherer aims at investigating some aspects of the interrelations between the emotions represented in art, affective responses to art and aesthetic value.
The focus has marked its presence within the NCCR, the University of Geneva and abroad through the development of courses on emotions, through the lecturing activity of both Tom Cochrane and Patrizia Lombardo in several European countries and in the United States, and through publications already in print, forthcoming, in submission and in preparation. The focus is currently in the process of growing and diversifying, and has completed a new project proposal on Affective Dynamics joining the University of Geneva and the University of Fribourg (leaders: Patrizia Lombardo, University of Geneva, and Gianfranco Soldati, University of Fribourg).
This focus has several subprojects.
Sub project 1 is on "The Sublime". The sublime is one of the most distinctive and historically significant aesthetic emotions. It was a central area of research in the early formation of aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 20th century the concept lost favour, but has lately received a renewed interest in analytic philosophy and literary criticism. This project seeks to research the sublime from the perspective of emotions in particular. Initial research has divided into two questions: Firstly what is the sublime? And secondly what is the value of the sublime?Sub project 2 concerns "Literature, simulation and sentimental education". Fictional narratives can provide a number of insights concerning the nature of emotions and their relation to character, the self, as well as other long-term affective states. The concept of make-believe and the associated simulation theory are also popular in accounting for the ways that readers engage with works of fiction, and accordingly the potential for expressive affect and sentimental education by means of these works.
There is also an emergent subproject on "Emotions in Music". The main focus of this research concerns the causal basis and experiential nature of the expressive powers of music, as well as its implications for emotion regulation. The research generally complements the focus on aesthetic emotions and has significant potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. Our goal is to organize a conference on Music and the Emotions for 2009.
Focus leaders: Patrizia Lombardo and Klaus Scherer
Post-doc : - Thomas Cochrane : Philosophy of Music and the Sublime
