Classical Psychology: Affections/Emotions/Feelings/Soul

In classical thought, the soul has certain faculties, as identified by distinct psychological activities/capacities. One of these is termed the affections (also known as "emotions," "feelings," or simply the "soul" [as in: 'mind, heart, and soul'], and classically associated with the belly or bowels). This is the faculty by which the soul is moved to give assent (assensus) to the good and to reject evil. Actions of the affections/soul are called affections, emotions, feelings, or [often negatively] passions. (Notice the difficulty in terminology here: either the faculty and actions go by the same name ["affections"] or else the faculty is designated "soul," which term may create confusion since the soul is also the name for the immaterial part of Man, comprised of distinct faculties ['mind, heart, soul,' etc.].) Using "affections" and "emotion" synonymously, note the following, on how the activities of the affections are related to the intellect:

A.    “Affections in the general are these movings of the rational soul [the intellect], whereby the heart is sensibly carried out upon good or evil; so as to embrace the one, or refuse the other.”[1]

B.    “Emotion is a pleasurable or painful tone which may accompany the exercise of both sensuous and rational powers [the lower and higher activities of the intellect]”

1.“Pleasure is the concomitant of the healthy and normal exercise of any of our powers.”

2.  “Pain [or passion] is the concomitant of either the excessive or the inadequate or inhibited exercise of any of our powers.”[2]

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[1] William Bridge, Bridge’s Remains, Being VIII Sermons (London: Printed by John Hancock, 1673), 26.

[2] Sister Miriam Joseph, The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric (Philadelphia: Printed by Paul Dry Books, 2002), 45.