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Jon Elster
Alchemies of the Mind
Rationality and the Emotions
Cambridge UP, 1998
What's inside?
Emotions can`t be studied in labs, so to derive insight, watch what people do and why, and read a few good books.
Recommendation
This superlative work belongs on the shelf of any serious student of art, literature, philosophy and psychology - not to mention those readers who seek self-knowledge. Author Jon Elster explores the complex cognitive antecedents and consequences of emotional experience. Noting that much of what society needs to know about emotions is inaccessible in the psychology laboratory, he makes original, insightful use of literary and philosophical sources. He uses the work of such authors as Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Michel de Montaigne, Jean de La Bruyère and Alexis de Tocqueville to examine how emotional mechanisms function. This approach sheds light on the emotions and on the way you might read literature or listen to music. getAbstract.com highly recommends this book and finds it valuable not only for what it says, but for what it inspires. It is capable of changing how you think and feel in ways that are (just as emotions themselves) far from predictable.
Summary
About the Author
Jon Elster is the Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science at Columbia University.
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