From passions to emotions : the creation of a secular psychological category

Resource Information

The work From passions to emotions : the creation of a secular psychological category represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

From passions to emotions : the creation of a secular psychological category

Title remainder

the creation of a secular psychological category

Statement of responsibility

Thomas Dixon

Creator

• Dixon, Thomas, (Thomas M)
• Dixon, Thomas, (Thomas M)
• Dixon, Thomas, (Thomas M.)

Author

• Dixon, Thomas, (Thomas M)

Subject

• Emotions (Philosophy)
• Emotions

Language

eng

Summary

Today there is a thriving 'emotions industry' to which philosophers, psychologists and neuroscientists are contributing. Yet until two centuries ago 'the emotions' did not exist. In this path-breaking study Thomas Dixon shows how, during the nineteenth century, the emotions came into being as a distinct psychological category, replacing existing categories such as appetites, passions, sentiments and affections. By examining medieval and eighteenth-century theological psychologies and placing Charles Darwin and William James within a broader and more complex nineteenth-century setting, Thomas Dixon argues that this domination by one single descriptive category is not healthy. Overinclusivity of 'the emotions' hampers attempts to argue with any subtlety about the enormous range of mental states and stances of which humans are capable. This book is an important contribution to the debate about emotion and rationality which has preoccupied western thinkers throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and has implications for contemporary debates

Cataloging source

UkCbUP

Dewey number

152.4/01

Index

index present

LC call number

B105.E46

LC item number

D59 2003

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

dictionaries