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Contents - Ethics 3,
On the Origin and Nature of the Emotions

E3PREF PREFACE. Most writers on the emotions and on human conduct seem to be treating...
E3D1 DEF. 1. By an adequate cause, I mean a cause through which its effect can be clearly and distinctly perceiv...
E3D2 DEF. 2. I say that we act when anything takes place, either within us or externally to us, whereof we are t...
E3D3 DEF. 3. By emotion I mean the modifications of the body, whereby the active power of the said body is incre...
E3POST1 POST. 1. The human body can be affected in many ways, whereby its power of activity is increased or diminish...
E3POST2 POST. 2. The human body can undergo many changes, and, nevertheless, retain the impressions or traces of obj...
E3P1 PROP. 1. Our mind is in certain cases active, and in certain cases passive. In so far as it has adequate ide...
E3P1C PROP. 1, Cor. Hence it follows that the mind is more or less liable to be acted upon, in proportion as it possess...
E3P2 PROP. 2. Body cannot determine mind to think, neither can mind determine body to motion or rest or any state...
E3P3 PROP. 3. The activities of the mind arise solely from adequate ideas; the passive states of the mind depend...
E3P4 PROP. 4. Nothing can be destroyed, except by a cause external to itself.
E3P5 PROP. 5. Things are naturally contrary, that is, cannot exist in the same object, in so far as one is capabl...
E3P6 PROP. 6. Everything, in so far as it is in itself, endeavours to persist in its own being.
E3P7 PROP. 7. The endeavour, wherewith every thing endeavours to persist in its own being, is nothing else but th...
E3P8 PROP. 8. The endeavour, whereby a thing endeavours to persist in its being, involves no finite time, but an...
E3P9 PROP. 9. The mind, both in so far as it has clear and distinct ideas, and also in so far as it has confused...
E3P10 PROP. 10. An idea, which excludes the existence of our body, cannot be postulated in our mind, but is contrar...
E3P11 PROP. 11. Whatsoever increases or diminishes, helps or hinders the power of activity in our body, the idea th...
E3P12 PROP. 12. The mind, as far as it can, endeavours to conceive those things, which increase or help the power o...
E3P13 PROP. 13. When the mind conceives things which diminish or hinder the body's power of activity, it endeavours...
E3P13C PROP. 13, Cor. Hence it follows, that the mind shrinks from conceiving those things, which diminish or constrain t...
E3P14 PROP. 14. If the mind has once been affected by two emotions at the same time, it will, whenever it is afterw...
E3P15 PROP. 15. Anything can, accidentally, be the cause of pleasure, pain, or desire.
E3P15C PROP. 15, Cor. Simply from the fact that we have regarded a thing with the emotion of pleasure or pain, though tha...
E3P16 PROP. 16. Simply from the fact that we conceive, that a given object has some point of resemblance with anoth...
E3P17 PROP. 17. If we conceive that a thing, which is wont to affect us painfully, has any point of resemblance wit...
E3P18 PROP. 18. A man is as much affected pleasurably or painfully by the image of a thing past or future as by the...
E3P19 PROP. 19. He who conceives that the object of his love is destroyed will feel pain; if he conceives that it i...
E3P20 PROP. 20. He who conceives that the object of his hate is destroyed will feel pleasure.
E3P21 PROP. 21. He who conceives, that the object of his love is affected pleasurably or painfully, will himself be...
E3P22 PROP. 22. If we conceive that anything pleasurably affects some object of our love, we shall be affected with...
E3P23 PROP. 23. He who conceives, that an object of his hatred is painfully affected, will feel pleasure. Contrariw...
E3P24 PROP. 24. If we conceive that anyone pleasurably affects an object of our hate, we shall feel hatred towards...
E3P25 PROP. 25. We endeavour to affirm, concerning ourselves, and concerning what we love, everything that we conce...
E3P26 PROP. 26. We endeavour to affirm, concerning that which we hate, everything which we conceive to affect it pa...
E3P27 PROP. 27. By the very fact that we conceive a thing, which is like ourselves, and which we have not regarded...
E3P27C1 PROP. 27, Cor. 1. If we conceive that anyone, whom we have hitherto regarded with no emotion, pleasurably affects som...
E3P27C2 PROP. 27, Cor. 2. We cannot hate a thing which we pity, because its misery affects us painfully.
E3P27C3 PROP. 27, Cor. 3. We seek to free from misery, as far as we can, a thing which we pity.
E3P28 PROP. 28. We endeavour to bring about whatsoever we conceive to conduce to pleasure; but we endeavour to remo...
E3P29 PROP. 29. We shall also endeavour to do whatsoever we conceive men [N.B. By "men" in this and the following p...
E3P30 PROP. 30. If anyone has done something which he conceives as affecting other men pleasurably, he will be affe...
E3P31 PROP. 31. If we conceive that anyone loves, desires, or hates anything which we ourselves love, desire, or ha...
E3P31C PROP. 31, Cor. From the foregoing E3P31, and also from E3P28 it follows that everyone...
E3P32 PROP. 32. If we conceive that anyone takes delight in something, which only one person can possess, we shall...
E3P33 PROP. 33. When we love a thing similar to ourselves we endeavour, as far as we can, to bring about that it sh...
E3P34 PROP. 34. The greater the emotion with which we conceive a loved object to be affected towards us, the greate...
E3P35 PROP. 35. If anyone conceives, that an object of his love joins itself to another with closer bonds of friend...
E3P36 PROP. 36. He who remembers a thing, in which he has once taken delight, desires to possess it under the same...
E3P36C PROP. 36, Cor. A lover will, therefore, feel pain if one of the aforesaid attendant circumstances be missing.
E3P37 PROP. 37. Desire arising through pain or pleasure, hatred or love, is greater in proportion as the emotion is...
E3P38 PROP. 38. If a man has begun to hate an object of his love, so that love is thoroughly destroyed, he will, ca...
E3P39 PROP. 39. He who hates anyone will endeavour to do him an injury, unless he fears that a greater injury will...
E3P40 PROP. 40. He, who conceives himself to be hated by another, and believes that he has given him no cause for h...
E3P40C1 PROP. 40, Cor. 1. He who conceives, that one whom he loves hates him, will be a prey to conflicting hatred and love.
E3P40C2 PROP. 40, Cor. 2. If a man conceives that one, whom he has hitherto regarded without emotion, has done him an injury...
E3P41 PROP. 41. If anyone conceives that he is loved by another, and believes that he has given no cause for such l...
E3P41C PROP. 41, Cor. He who imagines, that he is loved by one whom he hates, will be a prey to conflicting hatred and lo...
E3P42 PROP. 42. He who has conferred a benefit on anyone from motives of love or honour will feel pain, if he sees...
E3P43 PROP. 43. Hatred is increased by being reciprocated, and can on the other hand be destroyed by love.
E3P44 PROP. 44. Hatred which is completely vanquished by love passes into love: and love is thereupon greater than...
E3P45 PROP. 45. If a man conceives, that anyone similar to himself hates anything also similar to himself; which he...
E3P46 PROP. 46. If a man has been affected pleasurably or painfully by anyone, of a class or nation different from,...
E3P47 PROP. 47. Joy arising from the fact, that anything we hate is destroyed, or suffers other injury, is never un...
E3P48 PROP. 48. Love or hatred towards, for instance, Peter is destroyed, if the pleasure involved in the former, o...
E3P49 PROP. 49. Love or hatred towards a thing, which we conceive to be free, must, other conditions being similar,...
E3P50 PROP. 50. Anything whatever can be, accidentally, a cause of hope or fear.
E3P51 PROP. 51. Different men may be differently affected by the same object, and the same man may be differently a...
E3P52 PROP. 52. An object which we have formerly seen in conjunction with others, and which we do not conceive to h...
E3P53 PROP. 53. When the mind regards itself and its own power of activity, it feels pleasure: and that pleasure is...
E3P53C PROP. 53, Cor. This pleasure is fostered more and more, in proportion as a man conceives himself to be praised by...
E3P54 PROP. 54. The mind endeavours to conceive only such things as assert its power of activity.
E3P55 PROP. 55. When the mind contemplates its own weakness, it feels pain thereat.
E3P55C1 PROP. 55, Cor. 1. This pain is more and more fostered, if a man conceives that he is blamed by others.
E3P55C2 PROP. 55, Cor. 2. No one envies the virtue of anyone who is not his equal.
E3P56 PROP. 56. There are as many kinds of pleasure, of pain, of desire, and of every emotion compounded of these,...
E3P57 PROP. 57. Any emotion of a given individual differs from the emotion of another individual, only in so far as...
E3P58 PROP. 58. Besides pleasure and desire, which are passivities or passions, there are other emotions derived fr...
E3P59 PROP. 59. Among all the emotions attributable to the mind as active, there are none which cannot be referred...
E3DOE1 DOE. 1. Desire is the actual essence of man, in so far as it is conceived, as determined to a particular ac...
E3DOE2 DOE. 2. Pleasure is the transition of a man from a less to a greater perfection.
E3DOE3 DOE. 3. Pain is the transition of a man from a greater to a less perfection.
E3DOE4 DOE. 4. Wonder is the conception (imaginatio) of anything, wherein the mind comes to a stand, because the p...
E3DOE5 DOE. 5. Contempt is the conception of anything which touches the mind so little, that its presence leads th...
E3DOE6 DOE. 6. Love is pleasure, accompanied by the idea of an external cause.
E3DOE7 DOE. 7. Hatred is pain, accompanied by the idea of an external cause.
E3DOE8 DOE. 8. Inclination is pleasure, accompanied by the idea of something which is accidentally a cause of plea...
E3DOE9 DOE. 9. Aversion is pain, accompanied by the idea of something which is accidentally the cause of pain...
E3DOE10 DOE. 10. Devotion is love towards one whom we admire.
E3DOE11 DOE. 11. Derision is pleasure arising from our conceiving the presence of a quality, which we despise, in an...
E3DOE12 DOE. 12. Hope is an inconstant pleasure, arising from the idea of something past or future, whereof we to a...
E3DOE13 DOE. 13. Fear is an inconstant pain arising, from the idea of something past or future, whereof we to a cert...
E3DOE14 DOE. 14. Confidence is pleasure arising from the idea of something past or future, wherefrom all cause of do...
E3DOE15 DOE. 15. Despair is pain arising from the idea of something past or future, wherefrom all cause of doubt has...
E3DOE16 DOE. 16. Joy is pleasure accompanied by the idea of something past, which has had an issue beyond our hope.
E3DOE17 DOE. 17. Disappointment is pain accompanied by the idea of something past, which has had an issue contrary t...
E3DOE18 DOE. 18. Pity is pain accompanied by the idea of evil, which has befallen someone else whom we conceive to b...
E3DOE19 DOE. 19. Approval is love towards one who has done good to another.
E3DOE20 DOE. 20. Indignation is hatred towards one who has done evil to another.
E3DOE21 DOE. 21. Partiality is thinking too highly of anyone because of the love we bear him.
E3DOE22 DOE. 22. Disparagement is thinking too meanly of anyone, because we hate him.
E3DOE23 DOE. 23. Envy is hatred, in so far as it induces a man to be pained by another's good fortune, and to rejoic...
E3DOE24 DOE. 24. Sympathy (misericordia) is love, in so far as it induces a man to feel pleasure at another's good f...
E3DOE25 DOE. 25. Self-approval is pleasure arising from a man's contemplation of himself and his own power of action...
E3DOE26 DOE. 26. Humility is pain arising from a man's contemplation of his own weakness of body or mind.
E3DOE27 DOE. 27. Repentance is pain accompanied by the idea of some action, which we believe we have performed by th...
E3DOE28 DOE. 28. Pride is thinking too highly of one's self from self-love.
E3DOE29 DOE. 29. Self-abasement is thinking too meanly of one's self by reason of pain.
E3DOE30 DOE. 30. Honour [Gloria]is pleasure accompanied by the idea of some action of our own, which we believe to b...
E3DOE31 DOE. 31. Shame is pain accompanied by the idea of some action of our own, which we believe to be blamed by o...
E3DOE32 DOE. 32. Regret is the desire or appetite to possess something, kept alive by the remembrance of the said th...
E3DOE33 DOE. 33. Emulation is the desire of something, engendered in us by our conception that others have the same...
E3DOE34 DOE. 34. Thankfulness or Gratitude is the desire or zeal springing from love, whereby we endeavour to benefi...
E3DOE35 DOE. 35. Benevolence is the desire of benefiting one whom we pity. Cf. E3P27N1.
E3DOE36 DOE. 36. Anger is the desire, whereby through hatred we are induced to injure one whom we hate, E3P39.
E3DOE37 DOE. 37. Revenge is the desire whereby we are induced, through mutual hatred, to injure one who, with simila...
E3DOE38 DOE. 38. Cruelty or savageness is the desire, whereby a man is impelled to injure one whom we love or pity.
E3DOE39 DOE. 39. Timidity is the desire to avoid a greater evil, which we dread, by undergoing a lesser evil.
E3DOE40 DOE. 40. Daring is the desire, whereby a man is set on to do something dangerous which his equals fear to at...
E3DOE41 DOE. 41. Cowardice is attributed to one, whose desire is checked by the fear of some danger which his equals...
E3DOE42 DOE. 42. Consternation is attributed to one, whose desire of avoiding evil is checked by amazement at the ev...
E3DOE43 DOE. 43. Courtesy, or deference (Humanitas seu modestia), is the desire of acting in a way that should pleas...
E3DOE44 DOE. 44. Ambition is the immoderate desire of power.
E3DOE45 DOE. 45. Luxury is excessive desire, or even love of living sumptuously.
E3DOE46 DOE. 46. Intemperance is the excessive desire and love of drinking.
E3DOE47 DOE. 47. Avarice is the excessive desire and love of riches.
E3DOE48 DOE. 48. Lust is desire and love in the matter of sexual intercourse.
E3DOE DOE. Emotion, which is called a passivity of the soul, is a confused idea, whereby the mind affirms conc...