Emotion by William Lyons (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 449 attempt is made to present either a comprehensive or a meticulous set of solutions or rejections of these solutions. The aim is always to establish and perpetuate a sense of philosophic wonder and paradox. In this respect Mates is successful. But granted that Mates establishes his skeptical thesis, there is little suggestion as to what is to be made of the resulting intellectual paralysis. What is the purpose and value of philosophy in the event that the principal philosophic problems are insoluble' Additionally , what other traditional principal problems does Mates have in mind' No answers are given or suggested. Mates is at his best when stating the relevant philosophic problems and providing a 'map' of the historical attempts to solve them. The prose and logic are straightforward, crisp, and lively. One only wishes he had said a little more about what, if anything, comes next. CRAIG KNOCHE 24 Lawton A venue Cliffside Park, New Jersey Emotion. By WILLIAM LYONS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Pp. xi + 230. $29.50. Dr. Lyons concentrates -0n emotional states rather than on emotions considered dispositionally. His argument is that they can be accounted for by ' the causal-evaluative theory ' in terms of which ' X is deemed an emotional state if and only if X is a physiologically abnormal state caused by the subject of that state's evaluation of his or her situation' (pp. 57 f). According to Lyons, the physiological changes which go with emotional states can be evidence of an emotion's presence, but they are not necessarily evidence of some particular emotion and " there is no one special feeling that we can invariably connect with any particular emotion and with that emotion alone " (p. 133). Nor is there any particular form of purposive behavior characteristic of any particular emoti-0n, as, say, eating is characteristic of hunger. Lyons also thinks that emotions have formal and particular objects. An emotion's formal object is a general evaluative category (e.g. 'the dangerous '), which is not a cause. A particular object of an emotion is something like a person, an event, or the content of a belief. But it is not necessarily an item " capable of being described in any definite way " (p. 105), and it can be illusory or non-illusory. In Lyons's view emotions can also be motives. Although one can do something from a motive without wanting to do what one actually does, a motive, so Lyons argues, is often 450 BOOK REVIEWS a cause. And when a motive is a cause the action to which it is attributed can be explained by a desire, though desires or wants are not intentions and one can have a motive for doing something without wanting to do it. An emotion can thus be a motive by including a want (either conscious or unconscious) which could have been, or is, or could become a deliberate cause of an action. Lyons also holds that emotions can give rise to purposive behavior, though emotions are not activities and, therefore, they are not things which can be done for a purpose. " Emotions include beliefs, evaluations and wants which cannot be induced at will, as they are not like actions or performances which one can do on demand, but are more like reactions or responses engendered or stirred up in us by conditions which we usually cannot control " (p. 196). But emotions can be useful to those who have them, and, in this sense, can be purposive, though also disruptive. Turning finally to the topic of emotions and blame, Lyons argues that "there are a number of ways in which we can control our emotions and so a number of ways in which we can be blamed in respect of our emotions " (p. 193). We can put ourselves into, and also avoid, situations where a certain emotional state is likely to arise. We can extricate ourselves from situations which bring about emotional states. We can get ourselves out of an emotional state by listening to argument. We can get ourselves into an emotional state by putting ourselves in the way of believing certain things. We can " protect and promote an emotion by fostering...