The Lives and Opinions of Eminent PhilosophersDiogenes Laertius
Philosophy
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Diogenes Laertius
Philosophers, Ancient -- Biography; Philosophy, Ancient
LXIII. The Stoics also say that the mind is divisible into eight parts;
for that the five organs of sensation, and the vocal power, and the
intellectual power, which is the mind itself, and the generative power,
are all parts of the mind. But by error, there is produced a perversion
which operates on the intellect, from which many perturbations arise, and
many causes of inconstancy. And all perturbation is itself, according
to Zeno, a movement of the mind, or superfluous inclination, which is
irrational, and contrary to nature. Moreover, of the superior class of
perturbations, as Hecaton says, in the second book of his treatise on
the Passions, and as Zeno also says in his work on the Passions, there
are four kinds, grief, fear, desire, and pleasure. And they consider
that these perturbations are judgments, as Chrysippus contends in his
work on the Passions; for covetousness is an opinion that money is a
beautiful object, and in like manner drunkenness and intemperance, and
other things of the sort, are judgments. And grief they define to be an
irrational contraction of the mind, and it is divided into the following
species, pity, envy, emulation, jealousy, pain, perturbation, sorrow,
anguish, confusion. Pity is a grief over some one, on the ground of his
being in undeserved distress. Envy is a grief, at the good fortune of
another. Emulation is a grief at that belonging to some one else, which
one desires one’s self. Jealousy is a grief at another also having what
one has one’s self. Pain is a grief which weighs one down. Perturbation
is grief which narrows one, and causes one to feel in a strait. Sorrow
is a grief arising from deliberate thought, which endures for some
time, and gradually increases. Anguish is a grief with acute pain.
Confusion is an irrational grief, which frets one, and prevents one from
clearly discerning present circumstances. But fear is the expectation
of evil; and the following feelings are all classed under the head of
fear: apprehension, hesitation, shame, perplexity, trepidation, and
anxiety. Apprehension is a fear which produces alarm. Shame is a fear
of discredit. Hesitation is a fear of coming activity. Perplexity is a
fear, from the imagination of some unusual thing. Trepidation is a fear
accompanied with an oppression of the voice. Anxiety is a fear of some
uncertain event.
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