Expressing Emotions
Expressing Emotions
From Action to Art
This chapter argues that expression of emotion in art is a special case of expressive action. Insofar as it expresses emotions, art, like any expressive action, embodies and signals not just a mental state but also how the world is evaluated in that state, which thereby enables us to use art to share our point of view and let each other know what matters to us. In the process of arguing for this position, this chapter also presents an approach to expressive action according to which this type of action both embodies and signals the agent’s emotional state, yet without this requiring any means-end reasoning on the part of the agent. Intentional expression of emotion, be it through action or art, is the completion and clarification of the emotion itself, which often is not known before it is expressed.
Keywords: Keywords expression of emotion, expressive action, art, Collingwood, means-end reasoning
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