This series delves into the intricate world of human emotions and senses, exploring their complexity across cultures and historical periods. Each volume investigates specific affects or sensory experiences, analyzing how they have been perceived and expressed throughout time and diverse societies. The collection bridges insights from the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences to offer a profound understanding of the human condition.
Phiddian explores the distinction between satirical and comic laughter, and the role of satire in licensing public expression of harsh emotions defined in neuroscience as the CAD (contempt, anger, disgust) triad. With a focus on eighteenth-century satirists such as Jonathan Swift, he reveals the importance of satire to free political expression.
Designed for scholars thinking about affect and emotion in the humanities and social sciences, this Element also draws on the life sciences to reveal how affect theory can be used to analyse systems of power.