2021 Eastern APA Division Conference

(January)

Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session

Friday, January 8, 2021, 4:00 -7:00 p.m. (ET)

Book Symposium: Andreas Elpidorou, Propelled: How Boredom, Frustration, and Anticipation Lead Us To The Good

Location: Online

Abstract: Many of our endeavors—be it personal or communal, technological or artistic—aim at eradicating all traces of dissatisfaction from our daily lives. They seek to cure us of our discontent in order to deliver us a fuller and flourishing existence. But what if ubiquitous pleasure and instant fulfillment make our lives worse, not better? What if discontent isn't an obstacle to the good life but one of its essential ingredients? Propelled makes a lively case for the value of discontent and illustrates how boredom, frustration, and anticipation can be good for us. Weaving together stories from sources as wide-ranging as classical literature, social and cognitive psychology, philosophy, art, and video games, Propelled shows that these psychological states aren't unpleasant accidents of our lives. Rather, they illuminate our desires and expectations, inform us when we find ourselves stuck in unpleasant and unfulfilling situations, and motivate us to furnish our lives with meaning, interest, and value. Boredom, frustration, and anticipation aren't obstacles to our goals—they are our guides, propelling us into lives that are truly our own.

Author Meets Critics Schedule:

Chair: Cecilea Mun (Independent Scholar)


4:00 – 4:10: Book Synopsis, Andreas Elpidorou (University of Louisville, Kentucky)


4:10 – 4:25: First Commentary, "Balance or Propel? The Value of Negative Psychological States," Filippo Contesi (University of Barcelona, Spain)  

4:25 – 4:40: Second Commentary, "Challenges vs. Frustrations and Non-rewards vs. Punishments," Valerie Gray Hardcastle (Northern Kentucky University, KY) 

4:40 – 4:55: Third Commentary, "Boredom and Its Values," Arina Pismenny (University of Florida)

4:55 – 5:10: Fourth Commentary, "Emotional Depth, Ambivalence, and Affective Propulsion," Francisco Gallegos (Wake Forest University) 


5:10 – 5:20: 
Short Break

5:20 – 6:00: Author’s Response, Andreas Elpidorou (University of Louisville, Kentucky)


6:00 – 7:00: Audience Questions for Author and Panel of Critics 

2021 Central APA Division Conference

(February)

Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session

Monday, February 22, 2021, 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. (CT)

Session G0A. Book Symposium: Michael Cholbi, Grief: A Philosophical Guide

(Forthcoming, cover and link TBA)

Location: Online

Abstract: Despite its centrality to the human experience, grief has received only sporadic and unsystematic attention from philosophers. Grief: A Philosophical Guide provides the first comprehensive philosophical theory of grief, outlining its nature and ethical significance. Chapter One proposes that we grieve for those in which we have invested our practical identities. Thus, grief is not limited to loved ones or intimates, and can extend to role models, political leaders, artists, even one’s enemies. This account of whom we grieve for explains why grief is a selective response to the deaths of others and how grief is experienced not only as a loss to the self but as a (partial) loss of the self. Chapter Two takes up the question of the nature of grief as an emotional state. I argue that grief is best understood as an emotionally-laden activity in which attention is directed at the loss of the bereaved’s relationship with the deceased as it was. The third and fourth chapters address what I call the paradox of grief: Grief involves painful affective states, and yet seems valuable or worthwhile enough to recommend it. This paradox can be circumvented, for grief provokes a ‘crisis’ in practical identity that enables a good (substantial self-knowledge), the pursuit of which provides a context in which the pain or suffering associated with grief can be experienced as attractive or desirable. In Chapter Five, I propose that the rationality of grief is primarily backward-looking, measured in terms of the emotional appropriateness, both qualitative and quantitative, of a grief episode to its object. Chapter Six defends a moral duty to grieve rooted in a self-regarding duty of self-knowledge whose fulfillment promotes self-respect, rational self-love, and effective rational agency. The seventh and final chapter advocates for skepticism about the medicalization of grief in the form of a grief-specific mental disorder. Grief: A Philosophical Guide depicts grief as an opportunity to restore hope and a sense of meaningful agency in the face of those deaths that disrupt both our hopes and our agency.

Author Meets Critics Schedule:

Chair: Rachel Fredricks (Ball State University, IN)

10:30 – 10:50: Book Synopsis, Michael Cholbi (University of Edinburgh, Scotland)

10:50 – 11:10: First Commentary, David Beisecker (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

11:10 – 11:30: Second Commentary, Carolyn Garland (Syracuse University, NY)

11:30 – 11:50: Third Commentary, Purushottama Bilimoria (University of Berkeley, CA; University of Melbourne, AU)*

11:50 – 12:10: Fourth Commentary, Travis Timmerman (Seton Hall University, NJ)

12:10 – 12:30: Fifth Commentary, Aaron Ben-Ze’ev (University of Haifa, Israel)

12:30 – 12:35 Short Break

12:35 – 1:00: Author’s Response, Michael Cholbi (University of Edinburgh, Scotland)

1:00 – 1:30: Audience Questions for Author and Panel of Critics

*Please note that Purushottama Bilimoria was unable to join us to present his commentary.

2021 Central APA Division Conference

(February)

Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session

Thursday, February 25, 2021, 7:10-10:10 p.m. (CT)

Session G5H. Title: “Cultures of Shame”

Location: Online

Chair: Krista Thomason (Swarthmore College, PA)

7:10 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: "Epistemic Shame in English Only Latinx American," Lucia M. Munguia (William Patterson University of New Jersey, NJ) (20 minutes)

7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.: Audience Q&A (60 minutes)

8:30 p.m. – 8:40 p.m.: 10 Minute Break

8:40 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.: “Configuring Smart-shaming in the Philippines,” Hazel T. Biana (De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines) (20 minutes)

9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.: Audience Q&A (60 minutes)

10:00 p.m. – 10:10 p.m.: SPE Announcements

2021 Pacific Division APA

(April)

Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session

Tuesday, April 6, 2021, 11:30-2:30 p.m. (PT)

Session G5B. Book Symposium: Cecilea Mun, Interdisciplinary Foundations for the Science of Emotion

Location: Online

Abstract: The proposed monograph introduces a meta-framework for conducting interdisciplinary research in the science of emotion, as well as a framework for a particular theory of emotion. This monograph can be understood as a “cross-over” book that introduces neophytes to the current discourse and major challenges in the science of emotion, from an interdisciplinary, philosophical perspective. It also engages experts in this area on contemporary debates in the philosophy of emotions, broadly construed, which takes the interdisciplinary study of emotions as a scientific enterprise in which philosophers, as well as other disciplines from across the humanities, are involved. One distinctive feature of this monograph is that it introduces three distinct theories: The first is a meta-theory of emotion, which I refer to as meta-semantic realism about emotion. The second is a metaphysical theory about the mind and the body, which I refer to as semantic dualism about the mind. The third is a metaphysical theory about emotion, which I refer to as semantic dualism about emotion. A second distinctive feature is that meta-semantic realism provides a novel way to understand the current discourse in the interdisciplinary study of emotions, as well as novel solutions to some of the significant challenges that philosophers of emotion face when providing an interdisciplinary theory of emotion. It does so by introducing novices to (meta-semantic realism), which includes a taxonomy of theories of emotion that allows them to understand the contemporary interdisciplinary discourse in the science of emotion as a debate between four fundamental types of theories of emotion that can be found or potentially found across the disciplines (realism, instrumentalism, eliminative-realism, and eliminativism).

Book Symposium Schedule (please note that the order of presenters is subject to change):

Chair: Jing Hu (Concordia University, Montreal, CA)

11:30 – 11:50: Book Synopsis, Cecilea Mun (Independent Scholar)

11:50 – 12:10: First Commentary, Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco (Grand Valley State University, MI)

12:10 – 12:30: Second Commentary, Michelle Maiese (Emannual College, MA)

12:30 – 12:50: Third Commentary, Owen Flanagan (Duke University, NC)

12:50 – 1:10: Fourth Commentary, Dina Mendonça, (Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal)

1:10 – 1:25: Short Break

1:25 – 1:45: Author’s Response, Cecilea Mun (Independent Scholar)

1:45 – 2:30: Audience Questions for Author and Panel of Critics

If you have any questions or concerns about the photos posted, please contact Cecilea Mun. Just as a note, I tried to pick dynamic photos to make the pictures more lively.