Why Are Envy, Jealousy, and Anger Necessary?
FREE 15:18
We typically think of negative emotions as faulty signals—problems to be eliminated. But Professor Thomason argues that these feelings are not weeds that ruin a garden but earthworms that enrich it. Emotions are not mere feelings; they present practical questions about how we live our lives. In this first lecture, we explore the nature and role of emotion alongside Professor Thomason, and seek ways of understanding negative feelings more deeply.
Lesson 2. How Do Saints Manage Their Emotions?
16:38
Since ancient times, many moral exemplars have held that suppressing and mastering the emotions is a condition for a mature life. The Stoics and Gandhi in particular insisted on the rigorous control of feeling, creating what we might call the ideal of the 'emotion-controlling sage.' Yet Professor Tomason challenges this ancient consensus: Does controlling one's emotions truly lead to a better life? Is such a life genuinely worth living? Taking these questions as its premise, this lecture asks whether the ideal of emotional mastery can serve as a standard for a happy or mature existence.
Lesson 3. Can Emotions Be Controlled?
17:19
There are practical reasons why we feel emotions—reason and feeling are not opposing realms but intimately connected. Certain moral exemplars, often called 'emotion-cultivating sages,' held that this connection could be used to govern the emotions. Confucius and Aristotle emphasized that through self-cultivation and habituation, feelings can be shaped and trained. Yet Professor Thomason's unreserved questioning continues: Is it actually possible to domesticate one's emotions? And even if it is, is it desirable? In this lecture, we reexamine the meaning and limitations of the ancient ideal of emotional cultivation.
Lesson 4. Why Do Negative Emotions Have a Bad Reputation?
15:41
We classify emotions such as envy, jealousy, and anger as feelings one 'ought not to have'—to be shaken off as quickly as possible. Yet Professor Thomason argues that emotions are universal human experiences that cannot be divided into good and bad; they must be understood as they are. Why, then, have we come to hold the prejudice that negative emotions are inherently bad? Drawing on Shakespeare's Othello, a comparison with the emotion of 'love,' and the modern wellness industry, this lecture traces the origins of our misconceptions about negative emotions and examines what messages such feelings carry for our lives.
Lesson 5. Neitzsche's Art of Understanding Emotions
16:27
Many moral traditions have viewed human beings as inherently flawed and taught that their inner wickedness must be suppressed and overcome. Nietzsche, however, argues that humans are not creatures born gentle and refined, and that the view defining inner drives and impulses as 'defects' is simply wrong. The constant effort to eliminate one's inner 'evil'—as the sages would have it—carries a serious risk of spiritual exhaustion and self-loathing. How, then, should we receive our negative emotions? In this final lecture, drawing on Nietzsche's philosophy, we open a new perspective on understanding the emotions we call 'bad.'
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