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Full Idea
The heart of every emotion is its value judgements, its appraisals of gain and loss, its indictment of offences and its praise of virtue, its often Manichean judgement of 'good' and 'evil'.
Clarification
'Manichean' here means polarised
Gist of Idea
The heart of an emotion is its judgement of values and morality
Source
Robert C. Solomon (The Passions [1976], 7.6)
Book Ref
Solomon,Robert C.: 'The Passions (1993 ed)' [Hackett 1993], p.209
A Reaction
He adds blame and excuse. Some of our strongest emotions can just be identifications, rather than judgements, as when we learn of someone else's triumph or disaster. On the whole I agree, though. This is important for Aristotelian virtue theory.
Related Idea
Idea 4375 Evaluations are not disguised emotions; instead, emotion is a type of evaluation [Achtenberg]
| 23951 | Emotion is a modification of bodily energy, controlling our actions [Spinoza] |
| 23950 | Freud said passions are pressures of some flowing hydraulic quantity [Freud, by Solomon] |
| 23981 | Rage is inconceivable without bodily responses; so there are no disembodied emotions [James] |
| 24013 | An emotion and its object form a unity, so emotion is a mode of apprehension [Sartre] |
| 24017 | Emotion is one of our modes of understanding our Being-in-the-World [Sartre] |
| 22235 | Feelings are not unchanging, but have a history (especially if they are noble) [Foucault] |
| 23952 | I say bodily chemistry and its sensations have nothing to do with emotions [Solomon] |
| 23954 | Emotions are judgements about ourselves, and our place in the world [Solomon] |
| 23960 | Emotions are defined by their objects [Solomon] |
| 23961 | The heart of an emotion is its judgement of values and morality [Solomon] |
| 23965 | Emotions can be analysed under fifteen headings [Solomon] |
| 2323 | Emotions have both intentionality and qualia [Kim] |
| 4906 | Babies show highly emotional brain events, but may well be unaware of them [Carter,R] |
| 23978 | 'Having an emotion' differs from 'being emotional' [Goldie] |
| 23973 | Unlike moods, emotions have specific objects, though the difference is a matter of degree [Goldie] |
| 23974 | Emotional intentionality as belief and desire misses out the necessity of feelings [Goldie] |
| 23972 | A long lasting and evolving emotion is still seen as a single emotion, such as love [Goldie] |