Examines the diverse philosophical views of emotions and their importance in educational practice.

Schools and other forms of education have significant impacts on people’s views about emotions and emotional experiences. This book helps students and educators to better understand emotions and their significance in social life and in education. It shows how we often take it for granted that certain emotions, such as happiness, are ‘positive’, while others are ‘negative’ and how personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, and race, can make an unfair difference when it comes to what emotions are expected or accepted. It also focuses on how emotions are understood as functional and as moral by different theoretical traditions, from psychology to philosophy. Written in an accessible format, the book encourages broad reflection on what emotions are and why they matter, in relation to the aims of education, what it means to be a good person, and equality and social justice.