Comments on The Neighborhood of God: Feelings and Faces

I'm not familiar with these 9 emotional axes, but ...

2007-06-29T12:55:00.000-04:00

I'm not familiar with these 9 emotional axes, but they remind me of Aristotles "Theory of the Mean", in which he states that every virtue (I think he identifies 11 somewhere) lies along an axis bounded by extremes.

For instance, courage lies between cowardliness and foolhardiness.

Similarly, "gentleness" lies between timidity and rage.

The essence of virtue (arete), in Aristotle's view, lies in determining where the proper mean lies, and maintaining one's passions in that state. This takes not just reason, but training.

We can quibble about the particular axes, but the concept is appealing.

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/MEAN.HTM

I love that McCain picture. Perfect white-hot rag...

2007-06-29T12:37:00.000-04:00

I love that McCain picture. Perfect white-hot rage. It is incredible that he would allow himself to show that much loss of control, especially since it was apparently during a presidential debate! My sister Al's theory is that it might have been a "micro-expression" - too brief for anything but a still camera to capture. I don't know. Doesn't seem like you could unscrew that grimace quickly.

I can't think of any picture of any major politician that out of whack - without maybe going back to Mayor Daley in 1968.

Hillary's rubber face usually shows her trying to mug and clown, without being aware of just how bizarre she looks when she does it.