First accounts of a “critical turn” in the philosophy of emotion recognize that studying emotions as socio-culturally situated and relevant phenomena enables us to address both the emotions in question and the socio-political implications they carry. However, even though the term critical has occasionally been mentioned in emotion theory, it is yet to be determined what a critical inquiry of emotions entails and what its consequences are. The network aims to sharpen and consolidate this critical turn by integrating the insights of critical epistemology (esp. feminist standpoint theory), critical phenomenology, and critical social theory into an understanding of emotions informed by constructivist and situated approaches. Accordingly, the main objective of our research network is to answer the question what a genuinely critical emotion theory (CET) looks like by distinguishing dimensions of critical inquiry into emotions. Our hypothesis is that CET has to fulfill (at least) three tasks: 1) make explicit the historical and socio-cultural context in which emotions unfold and in which emotion theory takes place; 2) explore the normative presuppositions and implications of theorizing and disputing about emotions; 3) investigate the social, ethical and political consequences of emotions, the realities they generate, and the disputes around these, including possible harms.