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Passions of the Soul: Bodily Expressions and Moral Implications
Premodern medicine regarded emotions as part of the system of the non-naturals, meaning things not in control of human nature. They were not seen as a component of an individual’s inherent constitution or “nature” (hence “non-natural”). Doctors as well as theologians however considered the emotions powerful and crucial in a negative and positive way. As ‘love’ (dilectio, caritas, amor) or ‘fear’ (timor) and taking into account that to some extent they could be directed, passiones, affectus, affectiones, were seen as vital for devotion and its practices, but just as much deemed essential for a sustainable society. Premoderns quickly acknowledge that feelings could nourish communality, cooperation, solidarity, charity, and many other prerequisites for a human(e) way of living. In this research seminar students will become familiar with the history of emotions, a new type of cultural history which is currently flourishing in premodern studies. Foremost we shall probe the various types of sources, from sermons, visions, love poetry and theatre plays to learned treatises on the senses and the qualitates animi, in which the various passions found expression. Together we shall try to catch emotions in the act, to chart their functioning in society and nail down their appreciation by different authors and publics. |
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