Wikipedia entry on the passions. First two sentences are from Spinoza’s Definitions. On the Origin and Nature of the Emotions, 1883.
January 1st, 1883 § Comments Off on “The body’s power is increased or diminished. Emotions are bodily changes plus ideas about these changes which can help or hurt a human.” It happens when the bodily changes we experience are caused primarily by external forces or by a mix of external and internal forces. Spinoza argued that it was much better for a person, himself or herself, to be the only adequate cause of bodily changes, and to act based on an adequate understanding of causes-and-effects with ideas of these changes logically related to each other and to reality; when this happens the person is active, and Spinoza describes the ideas as adequate. § permalink
Wikipedia entry on the passions. First two sentences are from Spinoza’s Definitions. On the Origin and Nature of the Emotions, 1883.