A Historical Perspective: Ancient Theories

• All emotions are the result of the conscious (cognitive?) perception of bodily changes or expressions.
• The soul is in the body, like power is in matter (i.e not a constitutive part, per se)
• Pain and pleasure : "Pain is awareness of the recoil of the body in the process of being deprived of the impress of the soul; Pleasure is the living being's awareness of the process of restoration of the harmony of the impress of the soul in the body"
• Pleasure and pain are not affections of the soul. They are affections of the living body.
• Consciousness (cognition?) is not affected by emotions. Hence, it gives a true account of the emotions.
• All passions (emotions) are accompanied by pain and pleasure.
• They are mainly independent entities, but might arise from ideas. They have their own purposes and developments.
• They originate subconsciously (obscure thought) from the soul activity, with no a priori actual bodily changes. When these changes occur, the body is perturbed, awareness follows and associates the perturbation with the ongoing thoughts, and the emotion is felt.
• Anger: It is an emotion arising from the perception and understanding of our own pain, or the pain of others. The start of the emotion requires a body predisposition (in the liver or blood).

The bile or the blood is heated (or set in motion), it is perceived by the soul, the reason becomes aware of the pain, the emotion is felt.

For More Information

• The Six Enneads (M.I.T.)

Author: Jean-Marc Fellous

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