Emotions As Concern-Based Construals? A Nice Idea

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Emotions as Concern-Based Construals? A Nice Idea In this essay, I will consider Robert Roberts’ argument in Emotions, Perception, and Moral Judgment. I will begin by explaining his core argument, based upon his theory on emotions: emotions as concern-based construals. This theory contains smaller components, such as an elaboration upon uniqueness in perspective, emotions as induced by concerning situations, and the significance of appropriate affective response in the pleasant versus unpleasant initial emotional assignment. Next, I will raise an objection to a flaw I recognize in Roberts’ argument, specifically in that the framework relies upon morality, but a universal moral code does not exist. Finally, I will conclude with a response

If an emotion is a mere construal, why do I not produce an emotional construal when I see a crosswalk sign change from “stop” to “safe to cross”? Why do I not experience an emotion when my water is room temperature as opposed to chilled with ice? Personally, I do not care about either of those things. A crosswalk that is not utilized does not concern me because I have no desire to drive my car through that crosswalk, nor do I have any attachment to the quantity of the crosswalk’s use. The temperature of my water does not concern me because I have no attachment to its temperature. As Roberts eloquently explains, “You will never feel fear if you don’t care about the thing that you see as threatened” (46). If you do not have an investment in something or concern in a situation’s outcome, producing an emotional response is entirely unnecessary.
What component determines the actual feeling? Affect is the portion of this emotional framework that “colors” the value, and it is what makes a construal “feel” like an emotion. Specifically, “affect is the phenomenal or qualitative experiential difference between an emotion and a non-emotion construal” (49). Typically, affect prescribes a pleasant or unpleasant determination, which works directly with the concern portion of a concern-based