Citizenship and Emotions: Towards a True Interculturality (About Martha Nussbaum’s Cognitive Theory of Emotion)

Abstract

Substantive democracy in a multicultural society from the 21st century requires institutional projects that increase the mutual solidarity levels in order to move forward with the processes of recognition of shared identities between culturally and racially different groups; it also requires the development of effective strategies for rapprochement between different cultures and races, making it possible to shape the effective achievement of common objectives to all and to develop the idea of citizenship.

Based on a compassionate reason, and given the relationship between emotions and the strong sense of identity of groups and individuals, one of these projects should be to remove the emotional barriers in order to include the other one, largely defined by the instructions. Based on Nussbaum’s cognitive theory of emotion, the paper analyzes elements that might contribute to developing a public culture of equality and civil compassion. We need political projects in order to control the harmful effects of fear, envy, shame and disgust. This damage may be seen in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, in the disgust over certain racial groups (e.g. ‘stinky Jews’), “black shame”, envy or racial hatred.