Berislav Marusić, "On the Temporality of Emotions: An Essay on Grief, Anger, and Love" (Oxford UP, 2022)
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What is the central puzzle about the diminishing of grief that the book addresses?
Welcome to the New Books Network.
Hello and welcome to New Books in Philosophy, a podcast channel with the New Books Network. I'm Carrie Figdoor, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. I'm co-host of the channel along with Robert Talise, Sarah Tyson, and Malcolm Keating. Together we bring you conversations with philosophers about their new books. in a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical inquiry. Today's interview is with Berislav Marusich, senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. His book on the temporality of emotions is is just out from Oxford University Press. When someone close to us dies, intense grief is an expected and reasonable response. But while the reason for our grief, the loss of the person who is the object of our grief doesn't change.
Our grief itself does diminish. This diminishment is also expected. But how can it be reasonable if the reason for the grief hasn't changed at all? In his new book, Marusich articulates this puzzle of accommodation as a general feature of our m of our mental lives. And he considers a number of different attempts to resolve it. He defends the idea on the end. That the puzzle can't be satisfactorily dissolved. While the diminishment is reasonable. It is so in a way that we can never fully grasp. Let's turn to the interview. Hello, Veroslav Marusich. Welcome to New Books in Philosophy.
Hi, thanks for having me.
I'm really excited to talk about your book on the temporality of emotions. Um Uh before we get to the the actual topic of the book, which is, you know, one's kind of it's a it's a a long discussion of, you know, how it is that we accommodate two various very strong, emotionally powerful emotions like grief and anger. Um uh and and whether and and why that is it is right to do so, um, given that the reasons for the for the emotions in the first place don't seem to change. But anyway, um before we get to that, uh, what uh tell us a bit about yourself. I mean your um You're at the University of Edinburgh now. Um, what was your how did you get into philosophy? And how did you come to write this book?
I suppose I I was always kind of a philosopher. I was always puzzled by what's going on and um what what w how we got here. Um I remember as a kid I had this theory I was a little kid, I was about five, I had this theory that that everything was made of sand. And then mayonnaise was the counterexample. Um and I I was exercised by that. Uh so that's the kind of kid I was. Um And then I um Really kind of wanted to do philosophy all along. Um what what I found difficult is to realized that philosophy is all I need. I I thought I needed to do philosophy and something else. So when I when I went to university I studied philosophy and first philosophy and physics and then philosophy and literature. But really I I was interested in the philosophy bits
How does Berislav Marusić’s personal background and family influence his philosophical interests?
Maybe I should also say that philosophy is a bit of a family business. Um so my uh grandmother from my mother's side uh was a philosopher in Croatia. Uh Her reputation, I think, deserved is that she introduced analytic philosophy into Croatia and many analytic philosophers in Croatia have sort of grown up with her, either by studying with her or receiving mentoring from her. And then my my sister is also a philosopher. She's uh in at Humboldt University in Berlin, works on um Філософія психиатри, мой брат стадії філософі. Um And I suppose my dad He will probably think it's a compliment if I say he's a bit of a philosopher himself. He didn't officially study it, but he has uh he has a lot of views.
Uh and I was sort of surprised to find that um After I was writing my book on the emotions, which we'll talk about and arguing that l love is endless, I I saw He too says that in his book, um Uh probably we both get it f through a Catholic background and Saint Paul, but um You know, the I these ideas kind of are around. Yes.
Huh. Um I don't I don't know if I know of any other philosopher with with so many other philosophers embedded in the in the philosophical world.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central puzzle about the diminishing of grief that the book addresses?
0:01–3:33
2
How does Berislav Marusić’s personal background and family influence his philosophical interests?
3:33–10:54
3
Why is it reasonable for grief to diminish even though the loss itself does not change?
10:54–22:45
4
What is the ‘double‑vision’ view of emotions and how does it explain the puzzle?
22:45–33:12
5
How do the pragmatist and hard‑line responses differ in explaining the reduction of grief and anger?
33:12–43:38
6
Why does the author claim love can be ‘endless’ while other emotions fade?
43:38–53:52
7
What future projects does Marusić plan after the temporality of emotions book?
53:52–59:31
8
How does the interview conclude and what final thoughts are offered to listeners?
59:31–1:01:26
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