Jealousy and the Sense of Self: Unamuno and the Contemporary Philosophy of Emotion

Abstract:This paper explores jealousy in Miguel de Unamuno's drama El otro. Drawing on contemporary philosophy of emotion, I argue that for the Spanish author, jealousy gives the subject a sense of self. The paper begins by embedding Unamuno's philosophical anthropology in the context of contemporary emotion theory. It then presents the drama as an investigation into the affective dimension of self-identity. The third section offers an analysis of jealousy as an emotion of self-assessment. The final section discusses how this drama can be regarded as a piece of philosophical work.