Feeling Lost in a Modernising World: A Critique on Martha Nussbaum’s Emotion Theory through an Analysis of Feelings of Unsafety in Magda Szabó’s Iza’s Ballad

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Abstract

In her philosophical work, Martha Nussbaum studies the role and value of emotions and feelings, by using fiction as extended experience. Inline with this approach, this chapter examines the nature of ‘feelings of unsafety’ according to Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy, against the background of experiences of feelings of unsafety as portrayed in Magda Szabó’s novel Iza’s Ballad. By comparing Nussbaum’s ideas with those of the phenomenologist Matthew Ratcliffe, this chapter offers a critique on Nussbaum’s theory of emotions. I argue that the impossibility of speaking out is a decisive aspect of the feelings of unsafety as portrayed in Iza’s Ballad, and that this aspect in particular is problematic in the context of Nussbaum’s emotion theory
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Cultural Construction of Safety and Security
Subtitle of host publicationImaginaries, Discourses and Philosophies that Shaped Modern Europe
EditorsGemma Blok, Jan Oosterholt
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherAmsterdam University Press
Chapter12
Pages255-276
Number of pages22
ISBN (Electronic)9789048555208
ISBN (Print)9789463720472
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

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