Sam Mason

When and why is it fitting for emotions to change over time? This article defends a novel answer to this question that emphasizes the motivational aspect of emotions. It is fitting for emotions to change over time insofar as our reasons for being motivated to fulfill the goals of emotions change over time. For example, it is fitting for guilt to dissipate when the agent has successfully made amends because the facts in virtue of which the agent has committed a culpable offense no longer provide reasons for them to be motivated to make amends.

Emotions are open to various kinds of normative assessment. For example, we can assess emotions for their prudential or moral value. Recently, philosophers have increasingly attended to a distinct form of normative assessment of emotions – fittingness assessment. An emotion is fitting when it is merited by its object. For example, admiration is fitting when it is felt towards the admirable, and shame towards the shameful. This paper defends a hybrid account of emotional fittingness. Emotions are complex, and typically involve various elements. As well as involving representations that can be assessed for accuracy, emotions typically motivate their subjects in characteristically urgent ways. The fittingness of an emotion as a whole is a function of the fittingness of both its representational and motivational aspects.