Beyond universalism/social constructivism debate in the history of emotions: The case of acedia

Abstract

Peter Toohey (2011) argues that the feeling of acedia, initially described by the Desert Fathers, is a romanticized version of the simple boredom felt by ordinary people. For Toohey, acedia is not real, but manufactured, i.e. a socially constructed emotion, unlike regular boredom which is universally felt. This distinction indicates that Toohey sides with universalist approach to emotions, which helps him avoid relativism of social constructivism in the history of emotions. However, by claiming that acedia is manufactured emotion Toohey is in danger to negate the reality of an emotional experience that many individuals seemed to have had. The goal of this paper is to outline the way we can overcome the shortcomings of Toohey?s approach to acedia. For this purpose, I argue, along with Griffiths (1997), that all our emotions have their roots in both culture and biology. I also argue that a job of a historian of emotions is to engage in the phenomenology of emotions of our predecessors. This article has been corrected. Link to the correction 10.2298/THEO2003169E