AUC Philologica (Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica) is an academic journal published by Charles University. It publishes scholarly articles in a large number of disciplines (English, German, Greek and Latin, Oriental, Romance and Slavonic studies, as well as in phonetics and translation studies), both on linguistic and on literary and cultural topics. Apart from articles it publishes reviews of new academic books or special issues of academic journals.
The journal is indexed in CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, and ERIH PLUS.
AUC PHILOLOGICA, Vol 2018 No 3 (2018), 11–22
Oublier Descartes ? Les passions de l’âme et les théories modernes des émotions
[Descartes forgotten? The passions of the soul and modern theories of emotions]
Denis Kambouchner
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/24646830.2018.32
published online: 23. 11. 2018
abstract
The reference to Descartes in modern scientific literature on emotions is either missing or negative. And yet, one can show that the theories of emotions laid out by William James in the 1890 ’ or by Antonio Damasio one century later are to a great extent neo-Cartesian: it is Descartes who first construed the passions of the soul as the expressions of a “body landscape” and of a bodily reaction to certain impressions or stimuli. One can also show that Descartes ’ account deals with the complexity of the affective life, and of the passion itself as a special kind of thought, in a more resolute way than a number of modern approaches do. On both planes, the disdain and caricature of the Cartesian legacy appear regrettable and unjustified.
keywords: emotions; Descartes; W. James; A. Damasio; psychophysiology; philosophy of mind
references (12)
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Oublier Descartes ? Les passions de l’âme et les théories modernes des émotions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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ISSN: 0567-8269
E-ISSN: 2464-6830
