Can happiness be a self-deception? What are the connections between the sin of pride and the pride of identity politics? Is jealousy inevitable? What is the difference between a "perverse" sexual desire and an unthinkable one? Using the resources of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and other disciplines, Jerome Neu addresses these and other questions about what sustains and threatens our identity in A Tear Is an Intellectual Thing." "Unlike other philosophical studies of emotion which look at emotions in general, Neu takes up specific emotions as the focus of his inquiry, seeing them as much more than illustrative examples within his theory. He examines the extent to which certain expressions of emotion are natural or inevitable, and articulates their political and moral implications.