It should be noted that these activities are not themselves passions. This is unmistakable if we pause to recognise what is happening to our heart when we’re eating, drinking, or engaging in aggressive or romantic activity. In focusing on passions specifically, it will hopefully become clear why there is the division between the heart and the mind in the first place.Īquinas claims that all passions are accompanied by an increase or decrease in heart rate ( Summa, 1a.2ae, 24.2, ad2). For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on those emotions (or movements) that are of the body. It is enough to know here, however, that passion or affection simply distinguish the type of emotion: that passions are of the body, and affections are of the mind. Other examples of affections (in addition to the one already given by Aquinas) include enthusiasm, resentment, forgiveness and even diligent attention. ![]() For example, in his Summa Theologica (c.1268), he notes the difference between a passion of love and an affection of love (1a. This distinction is found in the works of St Thomas Aquinas. Classically speaking, there are actually two types of emotion: emotions of the mind (affections), and emotions of the body (passions). The word ‘emotion’ comes from the Latin noun mōtus, which means ‘motion’ or ‘movement’. This statement, however, might not seem rational to someone who knew that the shop is a grocers and not an aquarium. This third use of the word involves judging, according to some given criteria, whether a specific statement of justification or explanation ( a reason) is sufficiently rational or not – that is, as to whether the reason is a rational reason! For example, the statement: “I want to go to the corner shop to buy some tropical fish” contains the explanation ‘because I want to buy some tropical fish’. The third use of the word ‘reason’ refers to the rationality or reasonableness of a statement or set of statements. The first two are the faculty of reason – which is the power of thinking, comprehending, or inferring – and a reason – which is a spoken, written, or thought statement of justification or explanation. ![]() Here, when I use the word ‘reason’, I will be refering to three distinct concepts. This is not so! This article aims to enhance our consciousness of the connection between the two. The heart and the mind, that is, emotion and reason, are often said to be in opposition. Robinson finds ways of bridging the gap (or not). ![]() SUBSCRIBE NOW Articles Reason & Emotion James R.
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