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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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Coimbra University Press
2015-12-01
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Series: | Plato |
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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 |
collection | DOAJ |
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 |
first_indexed | 2024-12-12T21:53:53Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-ba7c1e80935140e0b39c8a85bb9e57c1 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2079-7567 2183-4105 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-12T21:53:53Z |
publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
publisher | Coimbra University Press |
record_format | Article |
series | Plato |
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 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT thomascbrickhouse socratesontheemotions AT nicholasdsmith socratesontheemotions |