ABSTRACT
Philosophical traditions are filled with directives to control one’s emotions. Considering what is involved with overcoming disgust demonstrates just how complex this seemingly simple, reactive emotion can be. Sometimes it is so founded on an aversive sense experience that it barely qualifies as an emotion; other times it is grounded in complex propositional attitudes that may have filtered deep into consciousness. Although quintessentially aversive, disgust can also be aroused in circumstances where, perplexingly, it becomes a mode of engagement. The latter especially occurs with art and entertainment, manifesting a paradox where an intensely negative emotion also attracts. Many artworks more or less require the arousal of disgust, and to overcome it altogether would be to lessen a reader’s appreciation of the meanings that disgust can deliver.
