Oublier Descartes ? Les passions de l’âme et les théories modernes des émotions

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