ABSTRACT
A fundamental property of bodily (dis)pleasures, emotions, moods and sentiments is their valence or polarity: they are readily described as being either positive or negative. The fact that psychological states are affective on account of their valence means that issues surrounding valence are key to the understanding of the affective domain. The chapter introduces the popular core affect approach to affective experience and explain why it is committed to the explanatory priority and containment theses. It argues that bodily (dis)pleasures are intentional states whose valence is to be understood in terms of evaluative experience, and identify similarities and dissimilarities between their intentional structure and that of emotions. The chapter assesses the prospects of the explanatory priority and containment theses. The valence of bodily (dis)pleasures and emotions is a matter of value experience.
