Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LXII — Of the Passions of the Mind, their Original Source, Differences, and Kinds · 1 of 1 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter LXII, Section 1
CHAPTER LXII. Of the Passions of the Mind, their Original Source, Differences, and Kinds . The passions of the human mind are nothing else but certain motions or inclinations proceeding from the apprehension of any thing, as of good or evil, convenient or inconvenient. Now these kind of apprehensions are of three sorts, viz., Sensual, Rational, and Intellectual. According to these three are three sorts of passions in the soul; for when they follow the sensitive apprehension then they respect a temporary good or evil, under the notion of profitable or unprofitable, or delightful or offensive, and are called natural or animal passions. When they follow the rational apprehension, and so respect good or bad, under the notions of virtue or vice, praise or disgrace, profitable or unprofitable, or honest or dishonest, they are called rational or voluntary passions. When they follow the intellectual apprehension, and respect good or bad, under the notion of just or unjust, or true or false, they are called intellectual passions, or syncrisis, the faculty of choosing from comparison. Now, the subject of the passions of the soul is the concupitive power of the soul, and is divided into that concupiscible and that irascible, and both respect good and bad, but under a different notion. For when the concupiscible power respects good and evil absolutely, love or lust, or, on the contrary, hatred is caused. When it respects good, though absent, so desire is caused; or evil, though absent or at hand, and so is caused horror, flying from, or loathing; or, if it respects good, though present, then there is caused delight, mirth or pleasure; but if evil, though present, then sadness, anxiety, or grief; but the irascible power respects good or bad, under the notion of some difficulty, to obtain the one, or to avoid the other, and this sometimes with confidence. And so there is caused hope or boldness; but when with diffidency, then despair and fear. But when that irascible power riseth into revenge, and this be only about some evil past, as it were, of injury or hurt offered, there is caused anger. And so we find eleven passions in the mind, which are: love, hatred, desire, horror, joy, grief, hope, despair, boldness, fear, and anger.
Themes
◆Tripartite Soulanthropology
Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).
The passage explicitly divides the human mind into three faculties: Sensual, Rational, and Intellectual.
All passages →Related passages · 7 parallels · 1 contrast
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 12: The Prayer|Section 1c
“All things incorporeal when in a body are subject unto passion, and in the proper sense they are [themselves] all passions.
For every thing that moves itself is incorporeal; while every thing that's moved is body.
Incorporeals are further…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the mind and its passions, exploring how the mind interacts with the body and the external world. They both delve into the concept of passions as movements or inclinations, and how these are influenced by different levels of apprehension or understanding.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 5
“Section 1 1. Pleasure and distress, fear and courage, desire and aversion, where have these affections and experiences their seat? Clearly, either in the Soul alone, or in the Soul as employing the body, or in some third entity deriving fro…”
Both passages explore the nature and classification of human passions and their origins, with Plotinus focusing on the seat of these affections and Spinoza categorizing them into different types based on their sources. They share a conceptual parallel in their examination of the mind's responses to sensory and intellectual apprehensions.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 235
“Section 3 3. But how do we explain likings and aversions? Sorrow, too, and anger and pleasure, desire and fear- are these not changes, affectings, present and stirring within the Soul? This question cannot be ignored. To deny that changes t…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to emotions and passions. They explore how the soul interacts with the body and how emotions originate and manifest, showing a conceptual parallel in their examination of the soul's role in experiencing and processing emotions.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 236 (part 1)
“Section 4 4.
We have, however, still to examine what is called the affective phase of the Soul.
This has, no doubt, been touched upon above where we dealt with the passions in general as grouped about the initiative phase of the Soul and…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the passions or affections of the soul/mind, distinguishing between different types and their origins. They both explore the relationship between the soul/mind and the body in experiencing these passions, and they both posit that the higher aspects of the soul/mind remain unaffected by the passions, which are instead experienced in the body or lower faculties.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 348 (part 1)
“Section 28 28.
Thus much established, we may return on our path: we have to discuss the seat of the passionate element in the human being.
Pleasures and pains- the conditions, that is, not the perception of them- and the nascent stage of…”
Both passages explore the nature and origin of human passions, particularly anger. They both discuss the interplay between the body and the soul in the experience of emotions, though from different philosophical and mystical traditions.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 348 (part 2)
“Thus anger has two phases; there is firstly that which, rising apart from all process of reasoning, draws reason to itself by the medium of the imaging faculty, and secondly that which, rising in reason, touches finally upon the specific pr…”
Both passages explore the nature of anger and other passions, discussing their origins and how they relate to different faculties of the soul or mind. They both delve into the idea that passions arise from certain apprehensions or principles within the human being, and they categorize these passions based on their sources and effects.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter VIII (part 6)
“We may declare with entire assurance that instinct is a pleasure-pain which, like the positive and negative poles of an electro-magnet, repels and attracts the animal in this or that direction, compelling it to perform whole series of compl…”
Both passages explore the nature of instinctive and rational actions, and the role of pleasure and pain in guiding behavior. They discuss how actions can be categorized based on their origins and the level of consciousness involved, showing a conceptual parallel in their exploration of human and animal behavior.
◇neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XXIVCONTRASTS
“In what follows, while you endeavour to unfold divination, you entirely subvert it. For if a passion of the soul is admitted to be the cause of it, what wise man will attribute to an unstable and stupid thing orderly and stable foreknowledg…”
[auto] Both passages discuss the role of passions in human experience, but they take opposing views. Iamblichus argues that passions are impediments to true knowledge and divination, while the second passage categorizes and explains the various passions of the mind as natural, rational, and intellectual.