(Moral) Philosophy and Its Use of Emotions: From Smith to Nussbaum

Beginning in the 18^th century,  (Moral) philosophy has taken a great interest in how passions and emotions relate to and inform morality and civility. Up to this very day, these questions are being widely discussed, under different perspectives and with different outcomes. I will engage with some major works (like Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals, or, more recently, Martha Nussbaum’s Political Emotions) and show, first,  how the idea of morality (and civility) was and is shaped by historical experience and political interpretation. I will, second, try to understand the valence of specific passions/emotions/sentiments for moral issues as they were and are defined by modern and contemporary philosophy.