Feelings are not only of a fleeting nature in themselves; they are also subject to change during the course of time and history. Certain feelings – such as honour – have become alien to us, although they were still quite familiar to our grandparents and great-grandparents. On the other hand there are feelings – such as empathy and compassion – that meet with general recognition today, although little importance was attached to them by pre-modern societies. In her essay, Ute Frevert investigates the question of how emotional trends can be explained, and shows how emotions change with and through the course of history.
An investigation of the transitory and inconsistent nature of emotions.
The Authoress
Ute Frevert, born in 1954, historian; director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development, Berlin; professorships at Yale University and the Universities of Bielefeld, Constance and Berlin.
Published by Wallstein
Gefühlspolitik. Friedrich II. als Herr über die Herzen? (Emotional Politics. Friedrich II as a Governor of Hearts?, 2012)
