Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Benjamin Lee Whorf, George Santayana and Thomas Hobbes

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these philosophers

display all the ideas for this combination of philosophers


3 ideas

18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / e. Basic emotions
The 'simple passions' are appetite, desire, love, aversion, hate, joy, and grief [Hobbes, by Goldie]
     Full Idea: For Hobbes the 'simple passions' were appetite, desire, love, aversion, hate, joy, and grief.
     From: report of Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], I.6) by Peter Goldie - The Emotions 4 'Evidence'
     A reaction: This is the standard approach to emotions of Hobbes's time. Modern thinkers probably reject the idea that passions can be simple or basic. Rightly, I think.
Apart from pleasure and pain, the only emotions are appetite and aversion [Hobbes]
     Full Idea: All the passions, called passions of the mind, consist of appetite and aversion, except pure pleasure and pain.
     From: Thomas Hobbes (De Corpore (Elements, First Section) [1655], 4.25.13)
     A reaction: He now faces the challenge of explaining all the many other emotions in terms of these two. Good luck with that, Thomas.
18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 5. Mental Files
Words are not for communication, but as marks for remembering what we have learned [Hobbes]
     Full Idea: The use of words consists in this, that they may serve for marks by which whatsoever we have found out may be recalled to memory ...but not as signs by which we declare the same to others.
     From: Thomas Hobbes (De Corpore (Elements, First Section) [1655], 1.6.11)
     A reaction: This exactly fits the idea of mental files, of which I am a fan. That this is the actual purpose of language is an unusual but interesting view.