Ancient Doctrines of Passions: Plato and Aristotle

Abstract

The subject of this essay is a discussion of the doctrines of emotions of Plato and Aristotle. According to both them it is impossible to oust the passions from the good, i.e. happy life. On the contrary, emotions are an important component of human excellence. We investigate this question with reference to Plato’s doctrine of the soul and his concept of a perfect life, and Aristotle’s ethics, poetics and rhetoric.