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Full Idea
By emotion [affectus] I understand the modification of energy of the body by which the power of action is aided or restrained.
Gist of Idea
Emotion is a modification of bodily energy, controlling our actions
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675]), quoted by Robert C. Solomon - The Passions 3.4
Book Ref
Solomon,Robert C.: 'The Passions (1993 ed)' [Hackett 1993], p.86
A Reaction
[no ref given] Solomon gives this as the earliest version of the 'hydraulic' model of emotions, later found in Freud and Jung. Very unusual to give a wholly physical account of these psychic states.
Related Idea
Idea 23952 I say bodily chemistry and its sensations have nothing to do with emotions [Solomon]