Blind Emotions

Leading experts address such problems as identification of deafblindness, planning and intervention, development, family support, and education for parents and professionals who work with people who have been deafblind from birth or a very early age.

“Acceptable Risk” – On the Rationality (and Irrationality) of Emotional Evaluations of Risk What is “acceptable risk”? That question is appropriate in a number of different contexts, political, social, ethical, and scienti c. Thus the question might be whether the voting public will support a risky proposal or project, whether people will buy or accept a risky product, whether it is morally permissible to pursue this or that potentially harmful venture, or whether it is wise or prudent to test or try out some possibly dangerous hypothesis or product. But complicating all of these queries, the “sand in the machinery” of rational decision-making, are the emotions. It is often noted (but too rarely studied) that voters are swayed by their passions at least as much as they are convinced by rational arguments. And it is obvious to advertisers and retailers that people are seduced by all sorts of appeals to their vanities, their fears, their extravagant hopes, their insecurities. At least one major thread of ethical discourse, the one following Kant, minimizes the importance of the emotions (“the inclinations”) in favor of an emphatically rational decision-making process, and it is worth mulling over the fact that many of those who do not accept Kant’s ethical views more or less applaud his rejection of the “moral sentiment theory” of the time, promoted by such luminary philosophers as David Hume and Adam Smith.

Undoubtedly, emotions sometimes thwart our epistemic endeavours. But do they also contribute to epistemic success? The thesis that emotions 'skew the epistemic landscape', as Peter Goldie puts it in this volume, has long been discussed in epistemology. Recently, however, philosophers have called for a systematic reassessment of the epistemic relevance of emotions. The resulting debate at the interface between epistemology, theory of emotions and cognitive science examines emotions in a wide range of functions. These include motivating inquiry, establishing relevance, as well as providing access to facts, beliefs and non-propositional aspects of knowledge. This volume is the first collection focusing on the claim that we cannot but account for emotions if we are to understand the processes and evaluations related to empirical knowledge. All essays are specifically written for this collection by leading researchers in this relatively new and developing field, bringing together work from backgrounds such as pragmatism and scepticism, cognitive theories of emotions and cognitive science, Cartesian epistemology and virtue epistemology.

Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business presents scientific proof that creative advertising is better for the bottom line. Adam Morgan, a Senior Creative Director at Adobe, gives both creatives and marketers the ammo to prove the value of creativity to stakeholders. For decades, marketers have battled over the value of creative ideas. Some believe creativity adds more impact, others believe it’s just window dressing. With data-driven marketing, the divide is only increasing. Today, more than ever, creative professionals need a concrete answer to the question, “Do creative ideas work better?” Fortunately, science has finally caught up. There is an answer that isn’t based on subjective case studies. More than that, Adam shows how emotional ideas create experiences that are more effective and reveals why creativity is actually less risky for business. Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business shows readers how they can create the ideal experiences to improve their bottom line.

"The face has long been considered the gateway to understanding human emotion and cognition. Body language is an equally powerful means of communication, however-and although faces and bodies can express themselves in many similar ways, examining their differences may be the best way to learn how bodies communicate. This book investigates the role that bodies play in the expression and perception of emotions. Using state-of-the-art research in the neuropsychology of emotional face and body disorders, Beatrice de Gelder discusses the neural basis and temporal processing signatures of emotional body language"--

Risks arising from technologies raise important ethical issues. Although technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, ICT, and nuclear energy can improve human well-being, they may also convey risks for our well-being due to, for example, abuse, unintended side-effects, accidents, and pollution. As a consequence, technologies can trigger emotions, including fear and indignation, which often leads to conflicts between stakeholders. How should we deal with such emotions in decision making about risky technologies? This book offers a new philosophical theory of risk emotions, arguing why and how moral emotions should play an important role in decisions surrounding risky technologies. Emotions are usually met with suspicion in debates about risky technologies because they are seen as contrary to rational decision making. However, Roeser argues that moral emotions can play an important role in judging ethical aspects of technological risks, such as justice, fairness, and autonomy. This book provides a novel theoretical approach while at the same time offering concrete recommendations for decision making about risky technologies. It will be of interest to those working in different areas of philosophy—such as ethics, decision theory, philosophy of science, and philosophy of technology—as well as scholars in the fields of psychology, public policy, science and technology studies, environmental ethics, and bioethics.

In recent years-especially the past decade, in sharp contrast to preceding decades-knowledge in the field of emotions has been steadily increasing. This knowledge comes from many different specialties: Emotion is a truly interdisciplinary subject. Workers in the fields of physiology, neurology, ethology, physiological psychology, personality and social psychology, clinical psychology and psychiatry, medicine, nursing, social work, and the clergy are all directly concerned with emotion. Professions such as law and architecture have an obvious concern with emotions as they affect human motives and needs. The various branches of art, especially the performing arts, certainly deal with the emotions, especially with the expression of emotions. Constantine Stanislavsky, the Russian theatrical genius, revolu tionized modem theater by developing a training method for actors and actresses that emphasized creating genuine emotion on the stage, the emotion appropriate to the character and the life situation being depicted. Indeed, one can hardly think of any human activity that is not related in some way to the field of emotion. Since the contributions to the subject of emotions come from so many different disciplines, it is difficult to find the important common themes that can yield an understanding of the field as a whole. This volume will attempt to make that task easier, but I recognize that no one can treat all of the diverse material expertly and in detail. My aim will be to represent all important types of contributions and perhaps point the way for further and more intensive study of special topics.