Passion (emotion)

Passion (Greek πάσχω "to suffer, to be acted on"^[1] and Late Latin (chiefly Christian^[2]) passio "passion; suffering")^[3] denotes strong and intractable or barely controllable emotion or inclination with respect to a particular person or thing. Passion can range from eager interest in, or admiration for, an idea, proposal, or cause; to enthusiastic enjoyment of an interest or activity; to strong attraction, excitement, or emotion towards a person. It is particularly used in the context of romance or sexual desire, though it generally implies a deeper or more encompassing emotion than that implied by the term lust, often incorporating ideas of ecstasy and/or suffering.

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) describes passions as

"penchants, inclinations, desires and aversions carried to a certain degree of intensity, combined with an indistinct sensation of pleasure or pain, occasioned or accompanied by some irregular movement of the blood and animal spirits, are what we call passions. They can be so strong as to inhibit all practice of personal freedom, a state in which the soul is in some sense rendered passive; whence the name passions. This inclination or so-called disposition of the soul, is born of the opinion we hold that a great good or a great evil is contained in an object which in and of itself arouses passion".^[4]

Diderot further breaks down pleasure and pain, which he sees as the guiding principles of passion, into four major categories:

Pleasures and pains of the senses
Pleasures of the mind or of the imagination
Our perfection or our imperfection of virtues or vices
Pleasures and pains in the happiness or misfortunes of others

Modern pop-psychologies and employers tend to favor and even encourage the expression of a "passion"; previous generations sometimes expressed more nuanced viewpoints.^[5]

^ "3958. paschó". Strong's Concordance. Archived from the original on July 18, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
^ "Definition of passion". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on May 4, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
^ (from Latin pati "to suffer"; participle: passus
^ Diderot, Denis (1 April 2004). "Passions". Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert - Collaborative Translation Project. 12: 142–146. hdl:2027/spo.did2222.0000.248.
^ For example: Schroeder, Theodore (July 1917). "Psychology, democracy and free speech". The Medico-legal Journal. 34 (4). Medico-Legal Society of New York: 4. Retrieved 7 March 2020. Every one with enough ignorant passion to be offended must of necessity deem everything to be of evil tendency which questions the omniscience of this passionate ignorance. Passion and fear of unconventional thoughts or words are symptoms of immaturity and conflict, that is, of ignorance, and all these conduce to the desire for censorship.

[1] "3958. paschó". Strong's Concordance. Archived from the original on July 18, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.

[2] "Definition of passion". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on May 4, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.

[3] (from Latin pati "to suffer"; participle: passus

[4] Diderot, Denis (1 April 2004). "Passions". Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert - Collaborative Translation Project. 12: 142–146. hdl:2027/spo.did2222.0000.248.

[5] For example: Schroeder, Theodore (July 1917). "Psychology, democracy and free speech". The Medico-legal Journal. 34 (4). Medico-Legal Society of New York: 4. Retrieved 7 March 2020. Every one with enough ignorant passion to be offended must of necessity deem everything to be of evil tendency which questions the omniscience of this passionate ignorance. Passion and fear of unconventional thoughts or words are symptoms of immaturity and conflict, that is, of ignorance, and all these conduce to the desire for censorship.

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