文档介绍：THE ETHICS
THE ETHICS
PART III: ON THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF
THE EMOTIONS
Translated from the Latin by R. H. M. Elwes
1
THE ETHICS
Most writers on the emotions and on human conduct seem to be
treating rather of matters outside nature than of natural phenomena
following nature's general laws. They appear to conceive man to be
situated in nature as a kingdom within a kingdom: for they believe that he
disturbs rather than follows nature's order, that he has absolute control
over his actions, and that he is determined solely by himself. They
attribute human infirmities and fickleness, not to the power of nature in
general, but to some mysterious flaw in the nature of man, which
accordingly they bemoan, deride, despise, or, as usually happens, abuse:
he, who eeds in hitting off the weakness of the human mind more
eloquently or more acutely than his fellows, is looked upon as a seer. Still
there has been no lack of very excellent men (to whose toil and industry I
confess myself much indebted), who have written many noteworthy things
concerning the right way of life, and have given much sage advice to
mankind. But no one, so far as I know, has defined the nature and strength
of the emotions, and the power of the mind against them for their restraint.
I do not forget, that the illustrious Descartes, though he believed, that
the mind has absolute power over its actions, strove to explain human
emotions by their primary causes, and, at the same time, to point out a way,
by which the mind might attain to absolute dominion over them. However,
in my opinion, he plishes nothing beyond a display of the acuteness
of his own great intellect, as I will show in the proper place. For the
present I wish to revert to those, who would rather abuse or deride human
emotions than understand them. Such persons will, doubtless think it
strange that I should attempt to treat of human vice and folly geometrically,
and should wish to set forth with rigid reaso