Philosophy and the Passions: Towards a History of Human Nature (Literature and Philosophy)

The subject of the passions has always haunted Western philosophy and, more often than not, aroused harsh judgments. For the passions represent a force of excess and lawlessness in humanity that produces troubling, confusing paradoxes. In this book, noted European philosopher Michel Meyer offers a wide-ranging exegesis, the first of its kind, that systematically retraces the history of philosophic conceptions of the passions in the work of such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Spinoza, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, and Freud. The great ruptures that led to passion s condemnation as sin, and to romantic exultation as the truth of existence, are meticulously registered and the logic governing them astutely explicated. Meyer thus provides new insight into an age-old dilemma: Does passion torture people because it blinds them, or, on the contrary, does it permit them to apprehend who and what we really are? The subject of the passions has always haunted Western philosophy and, more often than not, aroused harsh judgments. For the passions represent a force of excess and lawlessness in humanity that produces troubling, confusing paradoxes.In this book, noted European philosopher Michel Meyer offers a wide-ranging exegesis, the first of its kind, that systematically retraces the history of philosophic conceptions of the passions in the work of such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Spinoza, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, and Freud. The great ruptures that led to passion's condemnation as sin, and to its romantic exultation as the truth of existence, are meticulously registered and the logic governing them astutely explicated.Meyer thus provides new insight into an age-old dilemma: Does passion torture people because it blinds them, or, on the contrary, does it permit them to apprehend who and what we really are? Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Translator’s Preface......Page 8 Translator’s Introduction......Page 12 Introduction......Page 32 1 From the Passion of Discourse to the Discourse of the Passions......Page 40 2 Passion as a New Relationship with Being......Page 60 3 From Sickness to Sin......Page 90 4 The Genesis of the Individual and the Eruption of Guilt......Page 122 5 From the Experience of Passion to the Passion of Experience......Page 166 6 The Mirrors of the Sensible: Morals, Aesthetics, and History......Page 210 7 Toward a Critique of Pure Passion......Page 236 Epilogue......Page 306 Select Bibliography......Page 310 Index......Page 316 Back Cover......Page 327 From The Passion Of Discourse To The Discourse Of Passions -- Passion As A New Relationship With Being -- From Sickness To Sin -- The Genesis Of The Individual And The Eruption Of Guilt -- From The Experience Of Passion To The Passion Of Experience -- The Mirrors Of The Sensible: Morals, Aesthetics And History -- Toward A Critique Of Pure Passion. By Michel Meyer ; Translation, Preface, Introduction, And Bibliography By Robert F. Barsky. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [279]-281) And Index.