The puzzle of human emotions: some historical considerations from the 17th to the 19th centuries

Abstract

Emotions are both central to life experience itself and highly pertinent to various disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, social studies, philosophy, and the arts. The definition of emotion lies at the interface of nature and culture reflecting an understanding of the components that shape emotional states and experiences across time and cultures. This review describes how the concept of emotion developed in Western thought, from the Renaissance notion of the passions to the 19th century idea of ‘emotion’.

Barrier or Benefit? Emotion in Life-Career Design

“…Dale Carnegie Vocational psychology shares a common history with philosophy and psychology broadly in that emotion has largely taken a back seat to reason and rationality in these disciplines (Frijda, 2008;Solomon, 2008). In philosophy, this fact dates to Socrates, Plato, and 17th century Cartesian mind/body dualism that separated emotion from reason (Albano, 2008;Pham, 2007;Solomon, 2008). Emotion, long ago conceived by Descartes as mental agitation and uproar, continues today as threatening to and in need of control by reason and rationality (Solomon, 2008), despite evidence to the contrary (Cacioppo & Gardner, 1999;Damasio, 1994).…”