PHILOSOPHY

The Transmission of Affect: Why can you tell when the vibes are off? 🤨

Have you ever walked into a room and been able to feel that something isn’t quite right? Affect theory might be able to explain why…

A term first coined by Baruch Spinoza, affect refers to the way that our bodies experience emotions – think the uncomfortable feeling you get in your stomach when you know you’ve done something wrong. In recent years, affect theory has developed to consider the transmission of affect, the idea that affects can be transferred from one person to another. This process doesn’t just happen between two people, though; theorists believe that you can also absorb the atmosphere of your environment. If you’ve ever felt like you could cut the tension with a knife when you walk into a room, you might be experiencing this phenomenon. Similarly, if you find yourself laughing in a group situation even though you didn’t hear the joke, the positive affects in the air might have found their way to you.

💡 Things to consider

• Individuality: In the Western world, we typically think of ourselves as self-contained individuals who are in charge of our own emotions. How does affect theory challenge this idea? Does it create a new concept of what it means to be an individual?

• The direction of transference: We have already explored the idea of being affected by the surrounding environment. But individuals can also affect their environment, transmitting their own affects into the atmosphere. Do these affects have to be absorbed straight away? Do affects remain in a particular space even when their source of transmission is no longer there? Can affects exist in the atmosphere without a human source?

• Mind over matter: It’s a common belief that in order to get through difficult, physically demanding tasks, you just need to ‘put your mind to it’. But does our mind really have control over our body if we are constantly absorbing the affects of other people and the environment around us? And, if we consider our mind as part of our body, is our mind also impacted by the transmission of affect?

🔎 Find out more

• Spinoza on the Emotions

• Affect - Chicago School of Media Theory

🍒 The cherry on top

• 🐜 Ant Ethics: Are insects sentient? What counts as moral status? How should we act when we’re unsure? To find out more about the possible answers (?) to these questions, check out this article from Aeon. Great if you like Philosophy or Biology!

• ✍️ The Kafka Challenge: Kafka’s prose looks simple, but that’s exactly what makes it so hard to translate. Unlike Thomas Mann’s ornate, musical sentences—which translators often reshape—Kafka writes in lean, precise lines where every word matters, leaving no room to hide. A fascinating read for anyone who has ever wondered what is truly lost (or gained) when great art crosses a language barrier. Great for fans of Literature, Modern Foreign Languages, or Translation.

• 🧈 Butter Fraud: Butter adulteration, a form of food fraud, has been a problem since the late 1800s when margarine was created. Despite legal definitions and regulations, butter fraud persists, with modern supply chains complicating detection. Recent advancements in analytical techniques, such as 1H NMR spectroscopy and stable carbon isotope ratio analysis, are helping to combat this issue… A good read if you’re into Chemistry!

👀 Keep your eyes peeled for…

• Tuesday 18th November

  • A Critique of The Rehabilitation Process - Leicester

• Wednesday 19th November

  • Philosophy: Mind, Body & Soul - Where Are You Really? UEA

  • Scriptwriting Creative Workshop - UEA

• Thursday 20th November

  • Mathematics: The Real World Application of Vectors - Tutorial - UEA

🗳️ Poll