Critical Emotion Theory

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Imke von Maur
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy ; Practical Philosophy
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 569083069

Emotions have become a key focus of social contestation, particularly in public disputes over pressing societal issues like migration and climate change, thus harboring explosive potential. Such disputes often center empathy, compassion, mercy, or a lack thereof and so reveal the extent to which emotions and their assessment as (in)appropriate are intertwined with implicit normative criteria. These disputes may even be harmful when anger and fear, e.g., are instrumentalized in media and politics, resulting in affective polarization that potentially undermines constructive dialogue, possibly increasing fragmentation and antagonism. The illustrated need for a critical engagement with emotions is beginning to be recognized in academic discourse. Situated and constructivist approaches both consider the social context, body, and environment in their influence of emotions, yet do not critically assess how emotions contribute to shaping socio-political realities, nor do they explicate the normative standpoints from which emotions are evaluated. A focused exchange and collaborative research on what a genuinely critical emotion theory looks like is duly needed. We propose that CET has to fulfill three tasks: a) make explicit the historical and socio-cultural context in which emotions and emotion theory exist; b) explore the normative assumptions and implications behind theorizing and disputing emotions; c) investigate the social, ethical and political consequences of emotions, the realities they generate, and the disputes around these, including possible harms. Instead of offering new criteria for assessing emotions, we aim at explicating the normatively structured discourse on emotions and discussing the methodological and content-related conditions for having a critical inquiry into emotions. On a systematic level, the network seeks to (1) explore the notion of the critical and of a genuine "critical emotion theory", including an analysis of the normativity of assessing emotions, their realities, and disputes about them, as well as the harms these generate, (2) explicate the methods of CET by integrating insights of critical epistemology (esp. feminist standpoint theory), critical phenomenology, and critical social theory (esp. immanent critique) into emotion theory, and (3) apply CET to specific phenomena, such as the role of emotions in polarization, in order to test the possibility of a CET and refine the CET framework. On an operational level, the network aims to expand collaboration between emotion theorists from different critical perspectives and career stages, fostering transdisciplinary inquiry and international collaboration and, thus, research excellence. Establishing this research network will allow us to provide a space where the foundations of a research field CET are built through the organization of conferences, workshops and panels, a special issue, and an edited volume.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Gen Eickers