Affectology is my word for the study of the ruling emotions of an era, set against ideology. My test case is the passage from hope, which was the liberal mood, to fear, which is the illiberal one.
How the word moved
In January 2025 I made it one of the two "majors" of Bhumics and asked which affectologies, as opposed to ideologies, explain how we got from hope to fear. Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy was my guide, which tells you something about my reading habits. In February 2025 I pointed it at the Hope and Harmony Industrial Complexes, which the Pauper keeps another eye on.
In my words
"What affectologies (contrast with: ideologies) are implicated in the two?"
from Bhumics, Part 1, 21 Jan 2025
"The passing of a mood deserves an emotional response."
from Bhumics Week 2, 28 Jan 2025
Related
- Related Monsterology - its partner major in the opening Bhumics essay.
- Related Hope and Harmony Industrial Complexes - the moods the Pauper watches with this other eye.
- Related Bhumics - I called Bhumics a mood as much as an ideology, so it needed a study of moods.
Still open
I announced it as a major and then barely touched it after early 2025. Some day I'll have to decide whether that was neglect or a verdict.