Single Idea 23961

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

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 Reference

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]