What, if Anything, Can the History of Emotions Learn from the Neurosciences?

Abstract

The last decade has seen a wave of scholarship on both the history of emotions and the affective and social neurosciences. Both disciplines promote the view that emotions serve partly cognitive and goal-driven functions and are thus susceptible to change. Differences are, however, marked in understanding the nature of the change in question. Is it rooted in social constructivism or neuroplasticity? Are these two paradigms mutually exclusive or compatible? Is it even possible or intellectually sound to utilize ‘laboratory-produced’ and isolated data in historical studies? Nevertheless, in light of recent research on the connections between the history of emotions and the neurosciences the article suggests that the interplay between the historical and brain-scientific knowledge may be more fruitful than has previously been understood. Thus far the implications of the critical and social brain sciences for the history of emotions remain to be worked out. This article proposes an intellectual move from linguistically defined constructivism towards a more corporeal understanding of emotions with a constructivist element. This leads us theoretically towards an understanding of emotions as biocultural, historically changing experiences and intellectual concepts, which, however, possess certain transcultural continuities. The article highlights the intrinsic and dynamic relationship between pan-human characteristics and cultural, normative and temporal variance in emotions. However, the article explores the methodological difficulties and dangers of applying specific brain-scientific data to historical study. The difficulty arises mainly from the academic distance between the history of emotions and the neurosciences.