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Single Idea 24013

[filed under theme 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / a. Nature of emotions ]

Full Idea

Emotion returns to its object every moment, and feeds upon it. …The emotional subject and the object of the emotion are united in an indissoluble synthesis. Emotion is a specific manner of apprehending the world. …[39] It is a transformation of the world.

Gist of Idea

An emotion and its object form a unity, so emotion is a mode of apprehension

Source

Jean-Paul Sartre (Sketch for a Theory of the Emotions [1939], §III)

Book Ref

Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'Sketch for a Theory of Emotions' [Routledge 1994], p.35

A Reaction

The last sentence is the essence (or existence?) of Sartre's core theory of the emotions. They are, it seems, a mode of perception, like a colour filter added to a camera. I don't think I agree. I see them as a response to perceptions, not part of them.

Related Idea

Idea 24014 Emotions are a sort of bodily incantation which brings a magic to the world [Sartre]

The 17 ideas with the same theme [essential nature of an emotion]:

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]