The Philosophy of Emotion Podcast

On this episode of the philosophy of emotion podcast, Benjamin Matheson talks with Dr. Madeleine Shield, who received her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2025, about whether shame is a global emotions. Dr Shield has published widely on the nature of shame

Read more about Dr. Shield’s work here:

https://philpeople.org/profiles/madeleine-shield

Ever screamed at a horror movie while knowing perfectly well that the monster isn’t real? If so, are you really afraid—or merely experiencing what philosophers have called a quasi-emotion?

Andrea Scarantino (Georgia State University) joins Constant Bonard to discuss his paper “How Emotions About Fictional Objects Motivate Behavior”. Challenging a long-standing view inspired by Kendall Walton, Scarantino argues that our emotions toward fictional characters and events are genuine emotions with genuine motivational force. The difference, he suggests, is not that these emotions fail to motivate us, but that their motivational pull is carefully regulated.

Together, they discuss quasi-emotions, motivation and regulation, why we scream but don’t flee the theater, the role of immersion, and what our engagement with fiction reveals about the nature of emotion itself.

More about Andrea’s work:

https://andreascarantino.pages.dev/

https://philpeople.org/profiles/andrea-scarantino

Christine Tappolet joins Constant Bonard to discuss her Receptive Theory of emotions, a new account that seeks to explain how emotions put us in contact with values while distinguishing them from sensory perceptions.

Tappolet is Professor of Philosophy at the Université de Montréal and works on emotions, ethics, and moral psychology.

More about her work:

https://philo.umontreal.ca/repertoire-departement/professeurs/professeur/in/in14507/sg/Christine%20Tappolet/

https://philpeople.org/profiles/christine-tappolet

Constant Bonard joins Benjamin Matheson to discuss the role emotions play in environmental mitigation and climate action. Drawing on recent work in the affective sciences, Bonard challenges the idea that emotions themselves cause people to recognize political values and become politically motivated.

Bonard is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bern. More about his work:

https://sites.google.com/view/constant-bonard

https://philpeople.org/profiles/constant-bonard

Laura Silva joins Constant Bonard to discuss anger, challenging the common assumption that it is essentially a hostile emotion.

Silva is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Laval University in Canada, where she works on the role of emotions in our moral and political lives.

More about her work:

https://www.lauraluzsilva.com

https://philpeople.org/profiles/laura-silva

Quand on a peur, on fuit. Quand on est en colère, on attaque. Mais qu’est-ce qui se passe exactement dans notre tête — ou dans notre corps — quand on ressent une émotion ? Est-ce que nos émotions nous montrent quelque chose sur le monde, comme une sorte de sixième sens moral ? Ou sont-elles plutôt des réactions, des manières de se positionner face à ce qui nous arrive ?

Dans cet épisode, nous recevons Julien Deonna et Fabrice Teroni (Université de Genève) et explorons leur théorie : l’attitudinalisme. Une idée simple en apparence, mais aux conséquences profondes — qui remet en question la manière dont on pense habituellement le lien entre émotions et valeurs, entre ressentir et juger.

On s’appuie pour cela sur leur article de 2022, « Emotions and Their Correctness Conditions: A Defense of Attitudinalism ».

Recorded over Zoom. Dr. Pilar Lopez-Cantero (Antwerp) talks about romantic love.

Pilar Lopez-Cantero is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie/YUFE4 research fellow at the University of Antwerp, on the project Affect In the City (AFFINITY): The emotional dimensions of urban justice. She works on philosophy of emotion, moral psychology, and political philosophy, with a focus on questions about personal relationships and urban policy.

Read more about Pilar and her work here:

https://philpeople.org/profiles/pilar-lopez-cantero

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/pilar-lopez-cantero_27668/

Recorded in person, Constant Bonard speaks with Professor Emanuela Ceva (University of Geneva). Her work invites us to rethink institutions not just as systems of rules, but as spaces shaped by human emotions and personal identities. What happens when those affective dimensions are ignored by institutions? And what changes when we put them at the center? These are some of the questions addressed in her article “The Mixed Affective Fabric of Institutional Dysfunctions: A Human-Centered View” about which we’ll discuss in this episode.

Read more about Emanuela and her work:

https://www.unige.ch/cisa/center/members/ceva-emanuela/

https://philpeople.org/profiles/emanuela-ceva

https://www.unige.ch/sciences-societe/speri/membres/professeures-et-professeurs/emanuela-ceva/

Recorded over Zoom. Dr. Alfred Archer (Tilburg University) talks about affective artifacts and affective injustice.

Read more about Alfred and his work:

https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/staff/a-t-m-archer

https://alfredarcher.weebly.com

https://philpeople.org/profiles/alfred-archer

Recorded over Zoom. Prof. Krista Thomason (Swarthmore College) talks about the nature and value of shame and other negative emotions, such as spite and anger.

Read more about Krista and her work:

https://www.swarthmore.edu/profile/krista-thomason

https://sites.google.com/swarthmore.edu/krista-k-thomason

https://philpeople.org/profiles/krista-thomason