Emotions as modular adaptations

Human feelings and bodily sensations are not vague byproducts but domain‑specific information systems shaped by natural selection to solve particular social and ecological problems (e.g., disgust to avoid disease, shame to maintain reputation). Treating emotions as modular adaptations reorients research and policy: it focuses attention on specific causes, measurable triggers, and testable interventions rather than on broad ‘emotioniness’ or purely cultural explanations. — Framing emotions this way sharpens debates about moral policy, mental‑health interventions, education, and AI by giving critics and policymakers concrete mechanisms to test and respond to.