Nietzsche on the sociality of emotional experience

Bibliographic Data

ID21603134
AuthorsKaitlyn Creasy (0000-0003-1125-1465, Philosophy Department California State University San Bernardino California USA, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume31
Issue3
Pages748-768
Publication date2023-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ejop.12818
OpenAlexW4295196871
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

In this paper, I explore the sociality of emotional experience in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche. Specifically, I describe four key mechanisms through which an individual's sociocultural context shapes her emotional experience on Nietzsche's view—emotional contagion as habitual affective mimicry, the production of emotions' felt character through the assimilation of dominant social beliefs and norms, affective interpretation à la Christopher Fowles, and the imposition of dominant notions of emotional appropriateness—fleshing out a dimension of Nietzsche's thought which is largely taken for granted but remains undertreated. After detailing these mechanisms, I argue that attending to the sociality of emotional experience in Nietzsche's thought is crucial not only for understanding key elements of his moral psychology (including certain of his reflections on freedom and self‐transformation), but also for understanding his interpretation of nihilism as a psychological‐affective phenomenon produced by the society to which one belongs. On Nietzsche's view, attending to the sociality of emotion helps individuals recognize the way in which the sociocultural contexts they inhabit might undermine their flourishing—and also helps them envision the conditions (especially sociocultural conditions) requisite for healthier, more empowering emotional lives

Epistemology · Flourishing · Mimicry · Psychoanalysis · Sociality · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Anthropology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Hegel · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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