Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions

Martha Nussbaum's Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions challenges the traditional philosophical view of emotions as mere impulses that hinder rational thought. Instead, Nussbaum argues that emotions are complex moral appraisals, or value judgments, about things important to our well-being.1

She posits that emotions involve acknowledging our own needs and incompleteness concerning aspects of the world we don't fully control. Therefore, emotions are cognitive and essential for ethical thinking. Nussbaum's work emphasizes that any ethical theory must realistically account for emotions to be tenable. She views emotions as valuable to human flourishing and rejects the idea that they distract from rational thought.12