Socrates on the Emotions

In Plato’s Protagoras, Socrates clearly indicates that he is a cognitivist about the emotions—in other words, he believes that emotions are in some way constituted by cognitive states. It is perhaps because of this that some scholars have claimed that Socrates believes that the only way to change ho...

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Main Authors: Thomas C. Brickhouse, Nicholas D. Smith
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Coimbra University Press 2015-12-01
Series:Plato
Subjects:
Online Access:https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/platojournal/article/view/2097
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author Thomas C. Brickhouse
Nicholas D. Smith
author_facet Thomas C. Brickhouse
Nicholas D. Smith
author_sort Thomas C. Brickhouse
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description In Plato’s Protagoras, Socrates clearly indicates that he is a cognitivist about the emotions—in other words, he believes that emotions are in some way constituted by cognitive states. It is perhaps because of this that some scholars have claimed that Socrates believes that the only way to change how others feel about things is to engage them in rational discourse, since that is the only way, such scholars claim, to change another’s beliefs. But in this paper we show that Socrates is also responsive to, and has various non-rational strategies for dealing with, the many ways in which emotions can cloud our judgment and lead us into poor decision-making. We provide an account of how Socrates can consistently be a cognitivist about emotion and also have more than purely rational strategies for dealing with emotions. http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_15_1
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spelling doaj.art-ba7c1e80935140e0b39c8a85bb9e57c12022-12-22T00:10:43ZengCoimbra University PressPlato2079-75672183-41052015-12-011510.14195/2183-4105_15_1Socrates on the EmotionsThomas C. Brickhouse0Nicholas D. Smith1Lynchburg CollegeLewis & Clark CollegeIn Plato’s Protagoras, Socrates clearly indicates that he is a cognitivist about the emotions—in other words, he believes that emotions are in some way constituted by cognitive states. It is perhaps because of this that some scholars have claimed that Socrates believes that the only way to change how others feel about things is to engage them in rational discourse, since that is the only way, such scholars claim, to change another’s beliefs. But in this paper we show that Socrates is also responsive to, and has various non-rational strategies for dealing with, the many ways in which emotions can cloud our judgment and lead us into poor decision-making. We provide an account of how Socrates can consistently be a cognitivist about emotion and also have more than purely rational strategies for dealing with emotions. http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_15_1https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/platojournal/article/view/2097SocratesEmotionsProtagorasCognitivismIntellectualism
spellingShingle Thomas C. Brickhouse
Nicholas D. Smith
Socrates on the Emotions
Plato
Socrates
Emotions
Protagoras
Cognitivism
Intellectualism
title Socrates on the Emotions
title_full Socrates on the Emotions
title_fullStr Socrates on the Emotions
title_full_unstemmed Socrates on the Emotions
title_short Socrates on the Emotions
title_sort socrates on the emotions
topic Socrates
Emotions
Protagoras
Cognitivism
Intellectualism
url https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/platojournal/article/view/2097
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