For most of us, emotions and desire are a highly personalised and private experience; felt by us and us alone. But from baseball games to presidential elections, emotions can be shared by the collective. Have we radically misunderstood the nature of these strange affects? Should we reconsider emotion as a communal and social experience, particularly if we are to understand its important consequences for social change?
In this timely new debate from the Institute of Art and Ideas, UCLA Professor and civil rights activist Kimberlé Crenshaw, journalist and author of Trans: A Memoir, Juliet Jacques, and philosopher Robert Eaglestone investigate the shared nature of emotion.
This video was produced by The Institute of Art and Ideas and is republished here with permission. It was filmed at HowTheLightGetsIn 2016 alongside 200 other debates and talks, all available for free at IAI TV. Their new podcast, Philosophy for our times, is available here.
