The part-whole perception of emotion.

Abstract

A clever argument purports to show that we can directly perceive the emotions of others: (1) some emotional expressions are parts of the emotions they express; (2) in perceiving a part of something, one can perceive the whole; (3) therefore, in perceiving some emotional expressions, one can perceive the emotions they express. My aim in this paper is to assess the extent to which contemporary theories of emotion support the first premise of this argument.