Manchester Centre for Emotion and Value (MANCEV)
Researching Emotion in Ethics, Aesthetics and Mind
The Manchester Centre for Emotion and Value was set up in 2008 to serve as a hub for research into the emotions and their relation to both aesthetic and ethical value. The University of Manchester is one of the foremost places for research into the emotions and value. We have a wide ranging expertise amongst academic staff and a flourishing graduate community. The Centre is directed by Peter Goldie.
Philosophical research into the relations between emotion and value is now a very active part of philosophy of mind, philosophical aesthetics and ethics. Emotion research at Manchester is concerned with a wide range of questions in these areas: ontological, epistemological, axiological, and psychological. What is an emotional experience, and how do the emotions fit into the more traditional ontology of the mental—belief, desire, perception and so on? Is emotional experience merely an experience of bodily changes, or do the emotions have significant and important cognitive elements which can be directed towards values in the world—the cruelty of a remark, the hunger of a child, the suffering of warfare as portrayed in Picasso’s Guernica? What, if any, are these cognitive elements, and how do they differ from non-emotional belief and judgement about value? Do the emotions have an epistemic role in enabling us to recognize value? Are they even perhaps a necessary part of a virtuous person’s life, or do they distort our reasoning about ethical values, and about what is the right thing to do? How do emotions motivate action—is it through desire or in some other way?
MANCEV’s activities include research projects, reading groups, workshops and conferences, and a strong publishing programme. In particular, we have strong links to other institutions across Europe, including a number of interdisciplinary research programmes, including social psychology and neuroscience, both of which are particularly active in this area.
Our research agenda has links also to other research activities within Philosophy at Manchester, and emotion research in ethics, aesthetics and philosophy of mind is accessible to undergraduates as well as to postgraduate students.
We have an especially strong, and developing, postgraduate community working in this area, and we provide a very high quality research environment. We welcome enquiries from anyone considering graduate studies in these areas. In the first place, we suggest that you get in touch with either Graham Stevens, our director of graduate studies, or with any one of the staff on these pages. We would be glad to arrange for you to visit us and meet up with some of our graduate students to get a feel for what the working environment is like at Manchester. Alternatively, simply get in touch with Peter Goldie by email.