This book describes a ubiquitous and potent emotion that has only rarely and recently been studied in any systematic manner, which scientists now call 'kama muta' (Sanskrit, 'moved by love'). The author shows that what evokes this emotion is the sudden creation, intensification, renewal, repair, or recall of a communal sharing relationship.

Autorentext

Alan Page Fiske is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Inhalt

Part I: The Feeling

Chapter 1: Cuteness and Cosmos

Chapter 2: The Sensations

Chapter 3: Universal Narrative Prototypes of Reunion, Culturally Adapted to Evoke Kama Muta

Part II: The Basic Theory, and Everyday Experiences

Chapter 4: Homo movens: What Evokes Kama Muta Experiences, and What Motives Emerge?

Chapter 5: Compassion, Heroism, and Victory

Chapter 6: Strategic Evocation of Kama Muta

Part III: Getting Deeper Into It

A Pivotal Idea: Kama Muta Is a Long-run Cause of the Cultural Practices that Evoke It

Chapter 7: How Not to Reify Words

Chapter 8: The Arts of Kama Muta

Chapter 9: Disasters, Memorials, and Mementos

Chapter 10: The Kama Muta Experience Is Generated by A Culturally Tuned Psychological Mechanism, The Psype

Part IV: Religion

Chapter 11: Mystical Religious Experiences

Chapter 12: Hinduism and Buddhism

Chapter 13: Islam

Chapter 14: Kama Muta in Pilgrimage and Pain

Chapter 15: Millennia of Meanings of Christian Tears

Chapter 16: The Locus of Kama Muta in Religion

Part V: The Big Picture

Chapter 17: Psychological, Social, Cultural, and Evolutionary Dynamics of Kama Muta

Chapter 18: The Joys of Knowing Kama Muta

Chapter 19: The Adventures of the Unknown

Glossary of Theoretical Constructs