This book takes the reader on a philosophical quest to understand the dark side of emotions. The chapters are devoted to the analysis of negative emotions and are organized in a historical manner, spanning the period from ancient Greece to the present time. Each chapter addresses analytical questions about specific emotions generally considered to be unfavorable and classified as negative.

The general aim of the volume is to describe the polymorphous and context-sensitive nature of negative emotions as well as changes in the ways people have interpreted these emotions across different epochs. The editors speak of ‘the dark side of the emotions’ because their goal is to capture the ambivalent – unstable and shadowy – aspects of emotions.

A number of studies have taken the categorial distinction between positive and negative emotions for granted, suggesting that negative emotions are especially significant for our psychological experience because they signal difficult situations. For this reason, the editors stress the importance of raising analytical questions about the valence of particular emotions and focussing on the features that make these emotions ambivalent: how – despite their negativity – such emotions may turn out to be positive. This opens up a perspective in which each emotion can be understood as a complex interlacing of negative and positive properties.

The collection presents a thoughtful dialogue between philosophy and contemporary scientific research. It offers the reader insight by illuminating the dark side of the emotions.

Nicolò Valentini obtained his doctorate in Philosophy at the University of Trento, Italy. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Exeter and Columbia University in New York (USA). He is currently working on the relation between olfaction and emotion and the moral and aesthetic value of disgust. 

Sara Dellantonio is a Senior Researcher at the University of Trento, Italy. Her main interests are in Philosophy of Psychology and the Cognitive Sciences. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Bremen (Germany) and has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York (USA) and at the University of Cardiff (UK). She has authored a number of articles and book chapters. Together with Luigi Pastore she recently authored a book for Springer on “Internal perception. The Role of Bodily Information in Concepts and Word Mastery”. 

Paola Giacomoni is Professor of the History of the University of Trento. Hermain scientific interests concern the relationship between philosophy and the sciences. She was research fellow in 2011 and invited professor in 2017 at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and at the Columbia University, New York, in 2015. She has published numerous essays internationally, several edited books, and five monographs.