Acknowledgements; Introduction The Sometimes Sweet Suffering of Others; Key to Abbreviations; I. When Pretty Bad Things Happen to Other People; 1. Much Ado about Nothing?; 2. Explaining Schadenfreude ; II. When Reallly Bad Things Happen to Other People; 3. The Meaning of Suffering; 4. Wicked Feelings; 5. Celebrating Suffering; 6. Punishment and Its Pleasure; 7. Cheering with the Angels; 8. Outlaw Emotions; Conclusion The Moral Problem of Schadenfreude ; Notes; Works Consulted; Index
John Portmann has studied at Yale, Cambridge University, and L'ecole des hautes etudes in sciences sociales in Paris. He received his Ph.D. in philosophical and religious ethics from the University of Virginia, where he studied under James Childress, Daniel Westberg, Richard Rorty and Patricia Spears. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"...a valuable addition to moral philosophy because it points up
some of the conundrums associated with a careful consideration of
Schadenfreude." -- Philosophyand Literature
"...strongly recommended as a stimulating and perceptive
examination of issues and questions relating to our attitudes
toward the misfortunes of other people with which all of us are
familiar in our moral lives." -- TheVirginia Quarterly Review
"[The book] is praiseworthy for taking up the frequently neglected
topic of the ethics of emotions and for pointing out why discussion
of emotions has been shunned by many philosophers...the book's
style is quite readable..." -- The World
"...fine nuggets peppered through the text..." -- New YorkTimes
"A demanding but productively provocative analysis." --
Booklist
"...lucid and engaging." -- The Wall Street Journal
"Schadenfreude is a fascinating emotion, much neglected but
obviously of great importance for practical ethics and moral
psychology. Portmann's book cuts across the intersection of current
emotion theory, psychology and ethics and invites philosophical
interaction with some classic literature on some of the nastier
emotions. The author is obviously well-read and has a rich store of
literary and philosophical examples." -- Robert C. Solomon,
University of Texas at Austin
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