This effort to make every one approve what we love or hate is in truth
ambition, and so we see that each person by nature desires that other
persons should live according to his way of thinking; but if every one
does this, then all are a hindrance to one another, and if every one
wishes to be praised or beloved by the rest, then they all hate one
another.
_The Varieties of Emotion_
Joy and sorrow, and consequently the emotions which are compounded of
these or derived from them, are passions. But we necessarily suffer in
so far as we have inadequate ideas, and only in so far as we have them;
that is to say, we necessarily suffer only in so far as we imagine, or
in so far as we are affected by a modification which involves the nature
of our body and that of an external body. The nature, therefore, of each
passion must necessarily be explained in such a manner, that the nature
of the object by which we are affected is expressed. The joy, for
example, which springs from an object _A_ involves the nature of that
object _A_, and the joy which springs from _B_ involves the nature of
that object _B_, and therefore these two emotions of joy are of a
different nature, because they arise from causes of a different nature.
In like manner the emotion of sorrow which arises from one object is of
a different kind from that which arises from another cause, and the same
thing is to be understood of love, hatred, hope, fear, vacillation of
mind, etc.; so that there are necessarily just as many kinds of joy,
sorrow, love, hatred, etc., as there are kinds of objects by which we
are affected. But desire is the essence itself or nature of a person in
so far as this nature is conceived from its given constitution as
determined towards any action, and therefore as a person is affected by
external causes with this or that kind of joy, sorrow, love, hatred,
etc., that is to say, as his nature is constituted in this or that way,
so must his desire vary and the nature of one desire differ from that of
another, just as the emotions from which each desire arises differ.
There are as many kinds of desires, therefore, as there are kinds of
joy, sorrow, love, etc., and, consequently (as we have just shown), as
there are kinds of objects by which we are affected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account