The Moral Psychology of Gratitude (Moral Psychology of the Emotions)

"Expressions of gratitude abound. Hardly a book is published that does not include in its preface or acknowledgments some variation on, "I am grateful to...for..." Indeed, most achievements come to be only through the help of others. We value the benevolence of others, and when we--or our loved ones--are the recipients of benevolence, our emotional response is often one of gratitude. But, are we bound to the requirement of 'repaying' our benefactors in some way? If we are, and there are--as ordinary language suggests--debts of gratitude, what kind of debts are these? Does the appropriateness of my gratitude require that my benefactor in fact intended to benefit me (in just the way she did)? Is there a difference between feeling grateful and being grateful? Is a precondition of my being grateful to another that I respect her? Do we owe a special sort of gratitude to those who have shaped us into the persons we are? What are the psychological and normative relations between gratitude the emotion, and gratitude the virtue? These are among the questions carefully addressed in The Moral Psychology of Gratitude. This volume provides readers with the state-of-the-art in research on gratitude. It does so in the form of sixteen never-before published articles on the emotion by leading voices in philosophy and the sciences of the mind." --From publisher's description "Expressions of gratitude abound. Hardly a book is published that does not include in its preface or acknowledgments some variation on, "I am grateful to...for..." Indeed, most achievements come to be only through the help of others. We value the benevolence of others, and when we--or our loved ones--are the recipients of benevolence, our emotional response is often one of gratitude. But, are we bound to the requirement of 'repaying' our benefactors in some way? If we are, and there are--as ordinary language suggests--debts of gratitude, what kind of debts are these? Does the appropriateness of my gratitude require that my benefactor in fact intended to benefit me (in just the way she did)? Is there a difference between feeling grateful and being grateful? Is a precondition of my being grateful to another that I respect her? Do we owe a special sort of gratitude to those who have shaped us into the persons we are? What are the psychological and normative relations between gratitude the emotion, and gratitude the virtue? These are among the questions carefully addressed in The Moral Psychology of Gratitude. This volume provides readers with the state-of-the-art in research on gratitude. It does so in the form of sixteen never-before published articles on the emotion by leading voices in philosophy and the sciences of the mind." --Résumé de l'éditeur Acknowledgments; The Emotion-Virtue-Debt Triad of Gratitude: An Introduction to The Moral Psychology of Gratitude; Part I: Reasons and Action; 1 Gratitude: Generic versus Deep; 2 Acting from Gratitude; Part II: Gratitude, Rights, and Duties; 3 Obligations of Gratitude: Directedness without Rights; 4 Debts of Gratitude; 5 Gratitude, Rights, and Benefit; 6 Do Children Owe Their Parents Gratitude?; Part III: Gratitude as a Reactive Attitude; 7 Gratitude as a Second-Personal Attitude (of the Heart); 8 Gratitude and Resentment: Some Asymmetries; 9 Gratitude and Norms: On the Social Function of Gratitude; Part IV: Authentic Selves and Brains; 10 Neural Perspectives on Gratitude; 11 Gratitude, Authenticity, and Self-Authorship; Part V: Gratitude and Virtue; 12 Gratitude as a Virtue; 13 Gratitude, Truth, and Lies; 14 Cross-Pollination in the Gardens of Virtue; 15 The Virtue of Gratitude and Its Associated Vices; 16 Gratitude, Friendship, and Mutuality: Reflections on Three Characters in Bleak House; Index; About the Contributors.;This volume provides readers with the state-of-the-art in research on gratitude. It does so in the form of sixteen never-before published articles on the emotion by leading voices in philosophy and the sciences of the mind. The Moral Psychology of Gratitude 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 The Emotion-Virtue-Debt Triad of Gratitude: An Introduction to The Moral Psychology of Gratitude 10 Part I: Reasons and Action 22 1 Gratitude: Generic versus Deep 24 2 Acting from Gratitude 44 Part II: Gratitude, Rights, and Duties 66 3 Obligations of Gratitude: Directedness without Rights 68 4 Debts of Gratitude 92 5 Gratitude, Rights, and Benefit 105 6 Do Children Owe Their Parents Gratitude? 127 Part III: Gratitude as a Reactive Attitude 146 7 Gratitude as a Second-Personal Attitude (of the Heart) 148 8 Gratitude and Resentment: Some Asymmetries 169 9 Gratitude and Norms: On the Social Function of Gratitude 185 Part IV: Authentic Selves and Brains 204 10 Neural Perspectives on Gratitude 206 11 Gratitude, Authenticity, and Self-Authorship 226 Part V: Gratitude and Virtue 252 12 Gratitude as a Virtue 254 13 Gratitude, Truth, and Lies 277 14 Cross-Pollination in the Gardens of Virtue 289 15 The Virtue of Gratitude and Its Associated Vices 305 16 Gratitude, Friendship, and Mutuality: Reflections on Three Characters in Bleak House 326 Index 348 About the Contributors 355 Edited By Robert Roberts And Daniel Telech. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.