In
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and
religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
, the passions are understood to be the emotions, instincts and desires that drive a human being (including lust, anger, aggression, jealousy, etc.). Different philosophical traditions hold different views about the passions. The philosophical notion of passion, in contrast, is generally identified with instinctually driven
emotion
Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...
al states, in many ancient philosophies and religious doctrines, the passions are the basis for
deadly sins and seen as leading to various social and spiritual ills. In
Western philosophical traditions, the passions are often placed in opposition to
reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...
.
Some seventeenth-century philosophers worked within an intellectual "milieu" in which the passions were regarded as a potent element of human nature, capable of disrupting any civilized order, including philosophy, unless they were tamed, outwitted, overruled, or seduced.
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...
deals with the actions and operations of passions, and the task of
moral philosophy
Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...
is to explore whether and how the passions can, or should be bridled, and how their indifference is transformed into good or evil by virtue of the domination of right reason. Reason is advocated in the control of passion, something seen as desirable and necessary for the development of a mature, civilized human being. This is achieved by the cultivation of virtue.
Four virtues in particular have long been seen as of special value in this area of philosophy.
The majority of philosophies and religions advocate at the very least tempering the passions to keep them within acceptable bounds. However, most of the religions recommend both the restraint and the transformation of the passions to the point where they no longer arise. Including Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism. The institution of the
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
within various religions is a means by which human beings may temporarily or permanently seclude themselves from circumstances exacerbating the arising of passion and provide a supportive environment for doing spiritual work.
Contemporary philosopher
Roberto Mangabeira Unger
Roberto Mangabeira Unger (; ; born 24 March 1947) is a Brazilian philosopher and politician. His work is in the tradition of Western philosophy and classical social theory, and is developed across fields in legal theory, philosophy and religion, ...
has developed a view of the passions that disassociates them from human nature, and instead gives them a formless life that serve non-instrumental dealings with each other. Rather than the guiding force behind our relations with the world, they organize and are organized around the need and danger that is at the heart of our relations with each other. In this way, Unger rejects the traditional view of the passions as something counter to reason and which are associated with certain expressions; rather, he sees them at the service of reason and their expression formed within certain contexts.
Background
The subject of the passions has long been a consideration in Western philosophy. According to European philosopher Michel Meyer, they have aroused harsh judgments as the representation of a force of excess and lawlessness in humanity that produces troubling, confusing paradoxes. Meyer sees philosophers as having treated the passions as a given expression of human nature, leaving the question of whether the passions "torture people because it blinds them, or, on the contrary, does it permit them to apprehend who and what we really are?"
[Michel Meyer, ''Philosophy and the Passions'', a translation of ''Le Philosophe et les passions'' *(Livre de poche), Penn State Press, 2000. Preface, introduction and translation by Robert F. Barsky]
website
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Spinoza
The seventeenth century Dutch philosopher Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
contrasted "action" with "passion," as well as the state of being " active" with the state of being "passive." A passion, in his view, happens when external events affect us partially such that we have confused ideas about these events and their causes. A "passive" state is when we experience an emotion which Spinoza regarded as a "passivity of the soul."[ The body's power is increased or diminished. Emotions are bodily changes plus ideas about these changes which can help or hurt a human.] It happens when the bodily changes we experience are caused primarily by external forces or by a mix of external and internal forces. Spinoza argued that it was much better for the individual himself to be the only adequate cause of bodily changes, and to act based on an adequate understanding of causes-and-effects with ideas of these changes logically related to each other and to reality. When this happens, the person is "active," and Spinoza described the ideas as adequate. But most of the time, this does not happen, and Spinoza saw emotions as more powerful than reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...
. Spinoza tried to live the life of reason which he advocated.
See also
* Affect
* Passion: An Essay on Personality
* Philosophy of desire
* Baruch Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
* Passion (emotion)
Passion (Greek ''πάσχω'' "to suffer, to be acted on" and Late Latin (chiefly Christian) ''passio'' "passion; suffering") denotes strong and intractable or barely controllable emotion or Hobby, inclination with respect to a particular per ...
* Philosophy of Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
* René Descartes
René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...
's Passions of the Soul
* Stoic passions
References
* {{cite book, title=The Passions, last=Solomon, first=Robert, author-link=Robert C. Solomon, publisher=Hackett Publishing, date=1976, isbn=0872202267
Religious philosophical concepts