RE: [xmca] Vygotsky and J. F. Chabrier - about emotions

[Achilles Delari Junior <achilles_delari@hotmail.com>]

Some quotes, from Vygotsky


Little attention has been given to this aspect of the problem because the problem
of man did not at all arise before contemporary psychology. But from the very
beginning, even the authors of the theory and their critics understood that in the
visceral hypothesis, they were speaking in essence of the animal nature of human
emotions. We will cite Chabrier, who advanced this idea in the most complete form.
Chabrier says that with this problem, we penetrate into the heart of the problem
and touch on the major objection that rises against the peripheral theory. When
we are speaking about instincts, we have before us an absolutely and invariably
established mechanism, which is activated automatically as soon as an appropriate
stimulation appears. It is possible that this is true also with respect to the primitive
emotions of the child, but it cannot be the same with respect to the usual emotions
of adults. (Vygotsky, 1999, p. 206)

Chabrier completely justifiably refers to the fact that a feeling of hunger, usually
considered in the group of lower bodily feelings in civilized man, is already a
fine feeling from the point of view of the nomenclature of James, that the simple
need of food can acquire a religious sense when it leads to the appearance of a
symbolic rite of mystical communication between man and God. And conversely,
a religious feeling, usually considered as a purely spiritual emotion, in pious cannibals
bringing human sacrifices to the gods, can scarcely he referred to the group
of higher emotions. Consequently, there is no emotion that by nature would be
independent of the body and not connected with it. James' book, The VrJrieties of
Religious Experience, shows incontrovertibly the extent to which higher feelings are
closely connected with all the fibers of our body. (Vygotsky, 1999, p. 207)


Separating emotions from the development of a system of ideas and establishing
their dependence exclusively on organic structures, James inevitably comes
to the fatalistic conception of emotions which encompasses animals and man
equally. The serious differences that human emotions display depending on the
era, the degree of civilization, the difference between mystical adoration of a knight
for his lady and the noble gallantry of the seventeenth century, remain unexplained
from the point of view of this theory. Chabrier says, if we imagine the infinitely
rich nature of the poorest emotion, if we pay less attention to the imaginary psychology
of single-celled organisms than to the remarkable analysis of novelists and
writers, if we simply make use of valuable data supplied by observations of people
around us, we cannot but admit the complete failure of the peripheral theory. Actually,
it is impossible to admit that simple perception of a female silhouette automatically
evoked an endless series of organic reactions of which could be born love
such as the love of Dante for Beatrice if we do not previously assume the whole
ensemble of theological, political, esthetic, and scientific ideas that comprised the
consciousness of the genius, AJighieri. (Vygosky, 1999, p. 207)


I have atached before, to you see something, but perhaps with these direct quotes
you can tell me more about... Mainlly the question about historical, cultural ideological 
constitution of human emotions... If the development of this could not be looking for
in Past, any suggestions about clues in present and future are very welcome too.

Thank you very much.
Achilles



> From: achilles_delari@hotmail.com
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: RE: [xmca] Vygotsky and J. F. Chabrier - about emotions
> Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:07 +0000
> 
> 
> Oh, incredible! Thank you very much. You are a "power plant",
> always working.
> 
> Oh, "thick" have many meanings, I see. But, if it is about number 
> of pages, there are 157 pages.... according my Google sources...
> 
> Then you see, please, what must I do to pay the order.
> 
> Muito obrigado.
> Achilles.
> 
> 
> > Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:03:23 -0800
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] Vygotsky and J. F. Chabrier - about emotions
> > From: lchcmike@gmail.com
> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > CC: VEER@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
> > 
> > Achilles!!
> > 
> > Voila!!   The book is in library at UC Berkeley. I have ordered it. Lets see
> > how thick it is.
> > :-)
> > mike
> > 
> > On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:49 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > I cannot find a thing, Achilles.
> > > Lets see if we can elicit some help.
> > >
> > > Rene-- Do you know of this work? Is it of enduring signicance?
> > >
> > > mike
> > >
> > > On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 3:01 AM, Achilles Delari Junior <
> > > achilles_delari@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >>
> > >> Hi XMCA,
> > >>
> > >> How are you? I wish fine.
> > >>
> > >> I was studding the Vygotsky's "Teaching about emotions"
> > >> and at the chapter 18 (see atached) I find very interesting
> > >> mentions to Chabrier - (I guess Joseph François Chabrier that
> > >> wrote "Les émotions et les états organiques" in 1911). The
> > >> contributions from Chabrier are linked with Vygotsky's concerns
> > >> for criticize dualistic views about emotions, and to understand
> > >> actual relations between emotions and
> > >>
> > >> - consciousness
> > >> - culture
> > >> - ideology
> > >> - history
> > >> - and personality
> > >>
> > >> I search a lot for Chabrier, but there was practically nothing.
> > >> Nothing in Amazon, nothing in Google books. And French Libraries
> > >> don't send to Brazil.
> > >>
> > >> Somebody have any suggestion, please? Any useful kind of service
> > >> to legally obtain the book? Some kind of "East View" to French resources?
> > >>
> > >> Thank you very much.
> > >>
> > >> Achilles
> > >> from Brazil.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> _________________________________________________________________
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> > >> Conheça!
> > >>
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> > >>
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