Dow, J orcid.org/0000-0002-8241-6880 (2021) Human and Animal Emotions in Aristotle. In: Sattler, B.M and Coope, U, (eds.) Ancient Ethics and the Natural World. Cambridge University Press , pp. 109-124. ISBN 9781108885133
Abstract
This chapter argues that, for Aristotle, human emotions are both different from, and also importantly continuous with, the emotions experienced by non-human animals. On the one hand, the repertoire of emotions experienced by human beings differs significantly from the repertoire experienced by non-human animals. The difference stems from the fact that only human beings have reason. Some human emotions (for example, shame) require the possession of reason and hence cannot be experienced by non-human animals. Other human emotions have counterparts in non-human animals, but they differ from these counterparts because, when functioning correctly, they are guided by reason. For instance, the disposition to feel fear is reason-governed in a human being but not in an animal. On the other hand, in spite of these striking differences between human and animal emotions, Dow argues that the emotions also reveal an important continuity between human beings and other animals: both human and animal emotions are fundamentally capacities to respond with pleasure or pain to situations that are apparently good or harmful to the subject. In this sense, emotion plays a similar role in the lives of humans and non-human animals.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: | |
Editors: |
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Keywords: | Aristotle, passions, animals, analogy, species, pleasure, pain, function, capacity, reason |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 02 Dec 2020 16:32 |
Last Modified: | 15 Oct 2023 01:14 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/9781108885133.007 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:168353 |