Emotion, Agency and Empathy

Emily McCall

This paper explores the implications of a simplified appraisal model of emotion to show that our emotions can be best understood as the subjective experience of agency.

First it is explained how emotions are fundamentally influenced by two main factors: will, defined as value or what is taken to be good; and control, the determination of whether an identified value will be able to be brought to bear in the world. These two factors are then identified as the essential components of agency.

Next it is shown that an agent’s power to influence extends even to her own emotions, which can be modified by exercising control over circumstances or by changing her will about them.

The paper ends with a look at how empathy, the understanding of the emotional experience of other agents–most importantly God as the ultimate all-powerful agent for good, can help to widen an agent’s perspective, orient her will to true goodness, and allow her to thrive emotionally in a world which is not fully controlled.

The full-text of this paper is available for FREE by clicking here. The paper is part of an ongoing EPS web project focused on a Philosophy of Theological Anthropology.