Abstract
This paper approaches the role of emotions in the production of scientific knowledge focusing on Social Sciences. It is a bibliographical enterprise composed of three sections. The first one discusses the existence of three moments in the way emotions’ presence in anthropological research is thought of: a) as undesirable invaders in fieldwork; b) as a nuisance through which the nature of fieldwork can be better grasped; c) as a way to the understanding of Otherness. The second section analyzes nostalgia and pessimism as “propelling springs” to the desire for knowledge in Anthropology and Sociology. The third section explores the role played by love in intellectual work based on the story of Sidney and Beatrice Webb (such as told by Wolf Lepenies in his book The three cultures) hereby taken as a set of ethnographic data.
Keywords:
emotions; scientific production; intellectual work; emotions in academia