The Ascent of Affect: Genealogy and Critique

Emotions have become a major research topic across the biological sciences, psychology, humanities, and social sciences in recent years. However, there remains no consensus on what emotions fundamentally are or how they work. Ruth Leys traces the history of emotion research, focusing on the post–World War II period when scholarly interest in emotions revived. She examines the ongoing debate about understanding emotions, highlighting the central conflict between two camps: those emphasizing the intentionality or meaning of emotions (who struggle to explain emotions in non-human animals) and those arguing for the universality of emotions (who face challenges when addressing questions of meaning). The book considers work from key figures across this spectrum, examines neuroscience's appeal and potential pitfalls for humanities scholars, and incorporates the latest debates. Leys provides a comprehensive analysis of how scholars have attempted to conceptualize emotion.