Emotion and Rationality in Aristotle's Model: From Anthropology to Politics

This contribution clarifies and further elaborates the complex nature of the relationship between emotion and reason in Aristotle’s philosophy. A lexical-conceptual analysis of key-concepts in De Anima (sensation, affection, fear/pity, appetite/desire and impulse) highlights Aristotle’s view on the role of emotions in cognitive processes. Aristotle’s assumption of continuity between mind and body (ontological continuity) and his view on the cognitive relevance of emotion (teleonomy) are foundational for his complex model of reason merging biological and cognitive processes (circular anthropology). The interaction between evaluative levels and emotive factors in cognitive processes as conceived by Aristotle is fundamentally different from the modernist Cartesian perspective, but is surprisingly modern when compared with particular contemporary perspectives.