Researcher Considers the Importance of Negative Emotions

Anger isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, says Columbia ethicist Macalester Bell , a good dose of resentment can be virtuous.

During an Aug. 16 lecture inside a packed Upper West Side restaurant, Bell, an assistant professor of philosophy, argued that negative emotions such as anger and contempt have positive moral dimensions that are often ignored.

Postpone the instinct to forgive and channel that inner scorn, she advised audience members, whose reactions ranged from incredulity to relief, even to applause.

“Our culture is too preoccupied with forgiveness,” she said. “I admit that forgiveness is sometimes a virtue, but sometimes our anger is given short shrift. I think we need to recognize the moral hazards that come with deficits of anger and other negative emotions.”

Anger has motivational value and can help protect the dignity of victims of injustice, she said, citing Aristotle, who argued that milquetoasts who put up with wrongdoing are “slavish” and lack self-respect. It also has been a successful tool of protesters, and anger sometimes can aid memory, she points out. Suppressing anger can also be tantamount to condoning wrongdoing.

“Anger is more complex than we realize and seeks many ends, like acknowledgement, remorse, reparation and assurance that the wrong done won’t happen again,” said Bell.

While Bell’s research is rooted in philosophy, theory and literature, her message is meant to be practical. She first became interested in negative emotions when she was working as a waitress while an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota. Irked by rude diners who treated the staff with little respect, Bell sought to uncover the roots of such attitudes. Referring to restaurants as “hotbeds of contempt,” Bell says the experience helped inspire the topic of her dissertation, The Importance of Contempt: Contempt in Moral and Political Life, at the University of North Carolina. Now in her sixth year at Columbia, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Philosophy as well as “Contemporary Civilization” within the Core Curriculum.

Some popular psychologists may denounce anger, arguing that it contaminates relationships. (“Hate, anger and resentment are destructive, eating away at the heart and soul of the person who carries them,” is number nine on Dr. Phil’s “Life Laws,” according to his website.) But others say that anger has its place. The philosopher Joseph Butler defended the motivational value of anger and, more recently, philosopher Jeffrie Murphy published a 2003 book called Getting Even: Forgiveness and Its Limits.

Historical figures, she says, have also shown us that anger can have positive results. She points to Frederick Douglass, for example, who used his wrath to lobby for the abolition of slavery, and feminists in the 1960s and ‘70s often participated in consciousness-raising groups as a way of recognizing and combating oppression.

To be sure, Bell recognizes that anger can be morally inappropriate. She doesn’t sanction Mel Gibson’s recent abusive tirade against a former girlfriend, or defend perpetrators of domestic abuse. And she acknowledges that anger might cause physical maladies, like increased blood pressure.

Now working on a book titled Hard Feelings: The Moral Psychology of Contempt, Bell argues that morally appropriate anger must be warranted and responsive to the specific situation. We should not decide how to react to a provocation solely on the basis of what anger might do to our health, she adds. “Suppose it were the case that every time you told the truth your blood pressure went up,” she said. “I don’t think that settles the question of whether you should lie.”

The talk was a part of Cafés Columbia , a weekly lecture series run by the Columbia College Alumni Association , which takes place every Monday evening at Picnic Market and Café, on 101st Street and Broadway. The series, which covers the arts, sciences and humanities, was conceived as a modern-day salon, where scholars and the public can hobnob over food and drinks while discussing issues of the day.

At the end of the talk, perhaps as a way to ward off potential contempt by waiters whose job she once performed, Bell reminded the audience to tip their servers.

—by John H. Tucker

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