Summary: There’s no scientific consensus as to what emotions are. Depending on who you ask, there could be 8 basic emotions (Dr. Robert Plutchik), 6 (Dr. Paul Ekman) or more than 127 (Dr. Tiffany Watt Smith). It’s true that different cultures acknowledge unique emotions. But it’s also true that different cultures cultivate different concepts of self, personhood, and purpose. In this episode we bulk up on emotion words, talk about the history of emotions (the concept as such isn’t old - it goes back to 1830), and explore the composition of the heart as it feels in the world.
