Appropriate Emotions

Emotional responses can be appropriate or inappropriate; it is appropriate to feel joy at a friend's success, inappropriate to take a pleasure in their failure. But what makes emotions appropriate? I will suggest that emotions are appropriate when they are accurately represent the value of their objects , and will support this view by examining emotional valence (the idea that emotions are positive or negative) and emotional rationality. Given the centrality of the emotions to our normal lives, this investigation of their logical character, and of what it is for them to be appropriate or inappropriate, will have significant implications for moral philosophy.