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One of the main problems in the field of emotion is to come up with
a clear and comprehensive definition of what emotions are. As stated in the overview.

This does not prevent us from studying particular emotions, such as fear.
It is nonetheless interesting to see the many attempts to characterize emotions from literary, philosophical and scientific viewpoints- that have been made over the last two thousand years or so. Here is a limited, randomly ordered, and highly arbitrary sample.

NB: The ideas expressed in what follows do not necessarily agree with the official view of the LeDoux lab.


In pain there is as much wisdom as in pleasure: like the latter it is one of the best self-preservatives of a the latter it is one of the best self-preservatives of a species. Were it not so, pain would long ago have been done away with; that it is hurtful is no argument against it; for to be hurtful is its very essence... We must also know how to live with reduced energy: as soon as pain gives its precautionary signal, it is time to reduce the speed- some great danger, some storm is approaching, and we do well to 'catch' as little wind as possible. It is true that there are men who, on the approach of severe pain, hear the very opposite call of command, and never appear more proud, more martial, or more happy than when the storm is brewing; indeed, pain itself provides them with their supreme moments! These are the heroic men, the great pain bringers of mankind: those few and rare ones who need just the same apology as pain generally, and verily, it should not be denied them! They are forces of the greatest importance for preserving and advancing the species, be it only because they are opposed to smug ease, and do not conceal their disgust at this kind of happiness.

F. Nietzsche
"Joyful Wisdom, Book IV"
Our natural way of thinking about ... emotions is that the mental perception of some facts excites the mental affection called the emotion, and that this latter state of mind gives rise to the bodily expression. My theory, on the contrary, is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion.
W. James (1842-1910)
"Principles of Psychology"

Emotion is that which leads one's condition to become so transformed that his judgement is affected, and which is accompanied by pleasure and pain. Examples of emotions include anger, fear, pity and the like, as well as the opposites of these.
Aristotle(384-322 B.C.)
"Rhetoric"


We merely state that they [emotions] all are tantamount to setting up a magical world by using the body as a means of incantation
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
"The Emotions: Outline of a Theory"

As when some shepherd, from the rustling trees
Shot forth to view, a scaly serpent sees,
Trembling and pale, he starts with wild affright
And all confused precipitates his flight:
So from the king the shining warrior flies,
And plunged amid the thickest Trojans lies

Homer (800-500 B.C)
"Iliad"


As when some peasant in a bushy brake
Has with unwary footing press'd a snake;
He starts aside, astonish'd, when he spies
His rising crest, blue neck, and rolling eyes"
So from our arms supris'd Androgeos flies.'

Virgil (750-700 B.C)
"Aeneid"