Touching the Soul Nerves and Music in the Origin of Passions by B.J. Feijoo (1676-1764)

Abstract

Exploring music's influence on the physiological model developed by the Benedictine natural philosopher Benito J. Feijoo (1676-1764), this article aims to contribute to ongoing conversations about the role of intersensory, affectional, and gender experiences in the production of knowledge. One of the most influential writers in the Hispanic world, Feijoo sought to explain how the impressions of the external world captured by the senses could come to provoke "passions"or "movements of the soul,"what today we call "emotions."The article suggests that Feijoo's deep knowledge of the nature of sound, his observations and readings about music's influence on mood and health, and above all, the intense feelings that music aroused in him influenced his view on the physiology of emotions.