Alessandra Tanesini June 2019 Explore some of the

Alessandra Tanesini June 2019

§ Explore some of the roles played by anger especially in debate. § Understand the relation between AIMS some forms of anger and some forms of ignorance § Develop a partial remedy to overcome the ignorance promoted by anger

§ What is anger § Arrogant Anger § The abuses of anger: humiliation and THE PLAN intimidation § Virtuous Anger § The uses of anger: understanding and holding responsible § The abuses of muting and silencing anger § Staying ignorant and fleeing discomfort § Staying with discomfort and hoping for understanding

§ Anger is a “desire, accompanied by [mental and physical] distress, for apparent retaliation because of an apparent slight that was directed, without justification, against oneself or those near to one” (Aristotle, Rhetoric, 1378 a 30 -33). ANGER § Anger is a negative emotion in response to a perceived wrong § It includes a desire to redress the wrong § Anger can be virtuous when it is fitting and proportionate § Aristotle conceives of this as seeking to get even, but it need not be so.

§ Anger is a characteristic emotion of some vices of superiority. TWO FACES OF ANGER § It can be a reaction to a perceived threats to arrogated entitlements (privileges). § Anger is also a characteristic response of the subordinated to the wrongs of their subordination. § It can be a reactive attitude of moral indignation holding others responsible for their behaviour and demanding that they stop and/or make amends

§ Status anger as anger in response to a perceived slight § Status anger is often a reaction to the thwarting of a desire about social status or about positional goods ARROGANT ANGER § Status anger can be effective (payback can restore one’s possession of the positional good) § Anger is an implicit acknowledgment of vulnerability to threats § Status anger is often a manifestation of superbia because it is a means to gain superiority by doing others down

THE ABUSES OF ANGER: INTIMIDATI ON AND HUMILIATIO N § Status anger involves a disposition to get even by lowering others’ social status. § Status anger is manifested in debate by behaviours designed to § intimidate (shouting down, dominating floor) § humiliate (mocking, dismissing, etc).

§ Feminists of colour have long argued for the usefulness of anger (e. g. , Lorde, 1981; Lugones, 2003). VIRTUOUS ANGER § Anger as efficacious in the fight against oppression § It supplies energy and motivation but is a burdened virtue (Tessman, 2005) § It scares and pushes away individuals who are dangerous for one (Malatino, 2019)

THE USES OF ANGER: UNDERSTA NDING AND HOLDING OTHERS RESPONSI BLE § Anger is instrumental in the acquisition of moral knowledge. § Anger, like other moral emotions, directs attention to relevant evidence of a wrong. § Anger if unwarranted can mislead and make us misconstrue the moral status of some action. § Anger might be difficult to train (Lorde 1981; Pettigrove 2014). § Anger is also a reactive attitude. § Anger is a way to hold people responsible for their actions by communicating to them that what they are doing is wrong § It demands that they stop and/or make amends and thereby it supplies them with a reason to do so.

MUTED AND SUPPRESS ED ANGER § Anger is muted when it is silenced and thus treated as mere venting or overreaction rather than as a communicative reactive attitude. § Anger is suppressed when it is self- smothered so that it is not manifest but also inhibited overtime.

MUTING ANGER AS CLAIMANT INJUSTICE § When anger is muted it fails to communicate moral indignation and becomes mere venting. § One is thus deprived of the ability to address some moral claims to others § Claimant injustice occurs when one is, because of prejudice, systematically and wrongly deprived of the ability to hold others responsible (Carbonell, 2019).

§ Repeated self-suppression of anger might SUPPRESSI NG ANGER AS HERMENEU TIC INJUSTICE lead to the dampening down of anger because of § Rationalisation to reduce cognitive dissonance § Sheer depression § Dampening of anger damages one’s capacities to fully understand one’s situation § Rationalisation lowers self-confidence and atrophies some intellectual capacities § Denies one of a vital cue to develop understanding when conceptual resources are not already in place § This is an hermeneutic injustice since it harms one’s capacities to develop appropriate conceptual resources

§ Feminists of colour and more recently FLEEING DISCOMFO RT trans-women complain that their anger is often met by white feminists or cis-women with fragility. § “I speak out of direct and particular anger at an academic conference, and a white woman says, “Tell me how you feel but don’t say it too harshly or I cannot hear you. ” But is it my manner that keeps her from hearing, or the threat of a message that her life may change? ” (Lorde, 1981) § White Fragility is manifested in tears, fears, expressions of discomfort and guilt and a disposition to flee (Di. Angelo, 2011).

FLEEING DISCUMFO RT, STAYING IGNORANT § White fragility is a way of keeping oneself ignorant of one’s complacency and complicity in other people’s subordination. § This is active ignorance because it is ignorance motivated by the desire not to know.

WHITE AND CISFRAGILITY AS STRATEGY § White fragility seeks to be comforted thus promoting the suppression of anger § White fragility promotes fleeing discomfort thus fostering the muting of anger

HOPE AND STAYING WITH DISCOMFO RT § Staying with discomfort is essential to hear the angry message and to avoid being complacent about and complicit with widespread injustice. § How to resist white fragility and the concomitant fleeing of discomfort § Promote resilience and persistence (Di Angelo, 2011) § Foster hope (Applebaum, 2017)