On Anger
Anger looms large in our public lives. Should it?

Reflecting on two millennia of debates about the value of anger, Agnes Callard contends that efforts to distinguish righteous forms of anger from unjust vengeance, or appropriate responses to wrongdoing from inappropriate ones, are misguided. What if, she asks, anger is not a bug of human life, but a feature—an emotion that, for all its troubling qualities, is an essential part of being a moral agent in an imperfect world? And if anger is both troubling and essential, what then do we do with the implications: that angry victims of injustice are themselves morally compromised, and that it might not be possible to respond rightly to being treated wrongly? As Callard concludes, “We can’t be good in a bad world.”

The contributions that follow explore anger in its many forms—public and private, personal and political—raising an issue that we must grapple with: Does the vast well of public anger compromise us all?

1144248846
On Anger
Anger looms large in our public lives. Should it?

Reflecting on two millennia of debates about the value of anger, Agnes Callard contends that efforts to distinguish righteous forms of anger from unjust vengeance, or appropriate responses to wrongdoing from inappropriate ones, are misguided. What if, she asks, anger is not a bug of human life, but a feature—an emotion that, for all its troubling qualities, is an essential part of being a moral agent in an imperfect world? And if anger is both troubling and essential, what then do we do with the implications: that angry victims of injustice are themselves morally compromised, and that it might not be possible to respond rightly to being treated wrongly? As Callard concludes, “We can’t be good in a bad world.”

The contributions that follow explore anger in its many forms—public and private, personal and political—raising an issue that we must grapple with: Does the vast well of public anger compromise us all?

19.95 In Stock
On Anger

On Anger

by Agnes Callard, et al
On Anger

On Anger

by Agnes Callard, et al

Paperback

$19.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

Anger looms large in our public lives. Should it?

Reflecting on two millennia of debates about the value of anger, Agnes Callard contends that efforts to distinguish righteous forms of anger from unjust vengeance, or appropriate responses to wrongdoing from inappropriate ones, are misguided. What if, she asks, anger is not a bug of human life, but a feature—an emotion that, for all its troubling qualities, is an essential part of being a moral agent in an imperfect world? And if anger is both troubling and essential, what then do we do with the implications: that angry victims of injustice are themselves morally compromised, and that it might not be possible to respond rightly to being treated wrongly? As Callard concludes, “We can’t be good in a bad world.”

The contributions that follow explore anger in its many forms—public and private, personal and political—raising an issue that we must grapple with: Does the vast well of public anger compromise us all?


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781946511546
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Publication date: 02/11/2020
Series: Boston Review / Forum
Pages: 160
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Agnes Callard is Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Chicago and the author of Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming.

Deborah Chasman is Coeditor-in-Chief of Boston Review.

Joshua Cohen is Coeditor-in-Chief of Boston Review, member of the faculty of Apple University, and Distinguished Senior Fellow in Law, Philosophy, and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at Yale University.

Brandon Terry is Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Social Studies at Harvard University.

Whitney Phillips is Assistant Professor of Communication, Culture, and Digital Technologies at Syracuse University

Table of Contents

Editors' Note Deborah Chasman Joshua Cohen 6

Forum

On Anger Agnes Callard 9

Forum Responses

Choosing Violence Paul Bloom 31

The Kingdom of Damage Elizabeth Bruenig 35

Anger and the Politics of the Oppressed Desmond Jagmohan 40

The Social Life of Anger Daryl Cameron Victoria Spring 46

More Important Things Myisha Cherry 51

How Anger Goes Wrong Jesse Prinz 56

Accountability Without Vengeance Rachel Achs 61

What's Past Is Prologue Barbara Herman 66

Against Moral Purity Oded Na'aman 71

The Wound Is Real Agnes Callard 76

The Radical Equality of Lives Judith Butler interviewed Brandon M. Terry 85

A History of Anger David Konstan 101

Victim Anger and Its Costs Martha C. Nussbaum 112

Whose Anger Counts? Whitney Phillips 132

Righteous Incivility Amy Olberding 148

Contributors 159

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews