TTC Video – The Passions

Far from being routine, emotions are “the key to the meaning of life,” says distinguished philosopher and author Robert C. Solomon, who in these 24 lectures takes you on a tour of his more than three-decade-long intellectual struggle to reach an understanding of these complex phenomena. Some of his conclusions are surprising and very much against the current of common sense. Professor Solomon’s lectures unfold as a rich dialogue with other philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Descartes, Adam Smith, Nietzsche, William James, Freud, Heidegger, and Sartre. He also relates these views to contemporary work in the cognitive sciences on emotions, notably research by Antonio Damasio, Joseph LeDoux, and Paul Ekman. And he discusses the portrayal of emotions in writers and artists including Homer, Shakespeare, Melville, Dostoevsky, and Picasso.

Lectures:

Lecture One – Emotions as Engagements with the World

Lecture Two – The Wrath of Achilles

Lecture Three – It is Good to Be Afraid

Lecture Four – Lessons of Love—Platos Symposium

Lecture Five – We Are Not Alone—Compassion and Empathy

Lecture Six – Noble? Or Deadly Sin? Pride and Shame

Lecture Seven – Nasty—Iagos Envy, Othellos Jealousy

Lecture Eight – Nastier—Resentment and Vengeance

Lecture Nine – A Death in the Family—The Logic of Grief

Lecture Ten – James and the Bear—Emotions and Feelings

Lecture Eleven – Freuds Catharsis—The Hydraulic Model

Lecture Twelve – Are Emotions “in” the Mind?

Lecture Thirteen – How Emotions Are Intelligent

Lecture Fourteen – Emotions as Judgments

Lecture Fifteen – Beyond Boohoo and Hooray

Lecture Sixteen – Emotions Are Rational

Lecture Seventeen – Emotions and Responsibility

Lecture Eighteen – Emotions in Ethics

Lecture Nineteen – Emotions and the Self

Lecture Twenty – What Is Emotional Experience?

Lecture Twenty One – Emotions across Cultures—Universals

Lecture Twenty Two – Emotions across Cultures—Differences

Lecture Twenty Three – Laughter and Music

Lecture Twenty Four – Happiness and Spirituality