The changeability of human beings over time is the central theme of this article. Emotion in Western society, in particular grief, is selected to provide a case history of mental change over a long time period. Two historical examples are examined: from Greek Antiquity, a scene from Homer’s Iliad, and from around 90 ce, a consolation letter written by Plutarch to his wife. These are contrasted to modern-day psychological advice given to grieving spouses and parents. It is argued that these three examples show discontinuous changes in lived-through experience, and that the transition to the 20th century is tied to the development of the modern self. Finally, the article suggests that a concept (esthema) similar to Foucault’s episteme is in operation here, which can be used to characterise the differences in ‘emotion’ over the three time periods.
ArcherJ. (2008). Theories of grief: Past, present, and future perspectives. In StroebeM. S.HanssonR. O.SchutH.StroebeW. (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research and practice (pp. 45–65). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
2.
BurkeP. (1990). The French historical revolution: The Annales School, 1929-89. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
3.
DanzigerK. (2004). Concluding comments. In BrockA. C.LouwJ.van HoornW. (Eds.), Rediscovering the history of psychology: Essays inspired by the work of Kurt Danziger (pp. 207–231). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
4.
DanzigerK. (2008b). Marking the mind: A history of memory. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
DixonT. (2003). From passions to emotions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
7.
DuffT. E. (1999). Plutarch’s lives: Exploring virtue and vice. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
8.
EustaceN.LeanE.LivingstonJ.PlamperJ.ReddyW. M.RosenweinB. H. (2012) AHR conversation: The historical study of emotions. American Historical Review, 117, 1487–1531.
9.
FaglesR. (1990). Homer: The Iliad. New York, NY: Viking.
10.
FebvreL. (1942/1982). The problem of unbelief in the sixteenth century: The religion of Rabelais (Trans. GottliebB). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
11.
FoucaultM. (1966/1970). The order of things: An archaeology of the human sciences (Trans. SheridanA). London, England: Tavistock.
12.
GranekL. (2010). Grief as pathology: The evolution of grief theory in psychology from Freud to the present. History of Psychology, 13, 46–73.
13.
HackingI. (2007). Kinds of people: Moving targets. Proceedings of the British Academy, 151, 285–318.
14.
International Society for Research on Emotions. (n.d.). ISRE: Past and present. Retrieved from http://isre.org/isre.php
15.
JanszJ.Van DrunenP. (2004). A social history of psychology. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
16.
Merleau-PontyM. (1945). Phénoménologie de la perception. Paris, France: Librairie Gallimard.
Nolen-HoeksemaS.LarsonJ. (1999). Coping with loss. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
19.
PeetersH. F. M. (1994). Hoe veranderlijk is de mens? Een inleiding in de historische psychologie [How changeable is the human being? An introduction to historical psychology]. Nijmegen, The Netherlands: SUN.
20.
PlamperJ. (2010). The history of emotions: An interview with William Reddy, Barbara Rosenwein, and Peter Stearns. History and Theory, 49, 237–265.
21.
PomeroyS. B. (1999). Reflections on Plutarch, A consolation to his wife. In PomeroyS. B. (Ed.), Plutarch’s advice to the bride and groom and a consolation to his wife (pp. 75–81). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
22.
ReevesN. C. (2011). Death acceptance through ritual. Death Studies, 35, 408–419.
23.
RoseN. (1990). Governing the soul. London, England: Routledge.
24.
RussellD. (1999). A consolation to his wife (translation). In PomeroyS. B. (Ed.), Plutarch’s advice to the bride and groom and a consolation to his wife (pp. 59–63). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
25.
SmithR. (1997). The Norton history of the human sciences. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
26.
SmithR. (2005). The history of psychological categories. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 36, 55–94.
27.
SmithR. (2007). Why history matters. Revista de Historia de la Psicología, 28, 125–146.
28.
StroebeM. S.HanssonR. O.SchutH.StroebeW. (2008). Bereavement research: Contemporary perspectives. In StroebeM. S.HanssonR. O.SchutH.StroebeW. (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research and practice (pp. 1–25). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
29.
TaylorC. (1989). Sources of the self. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Van HoornW. (2004). The missing link of historical psychology. In BrockA. C.LouwJ.van HoornW. (Eds.), Rediscovering the history of psychology. Essays inspired by the work of Kurt Danziger (pp. 161–182). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
32.
VerhaveT.Van HoornW. (1984). The temporalization of the self. In GergenK. J.GergenM. M. (Eds.), Historical social psychology (pp. 325–345). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
33.
WalterT. (2008). The new public mourning. In StroebeM. S.HanssonR. O.SchutH.StroebeW. (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research and practice (pp. 241–262). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
