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How Does Descartes Regulate Passions

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For this essay, I will define what passions are and how they are regulated according to Descartes. Descartes writings in the Meditations are very important for the theory of the Passions of the Soul. Primarily his writing on the mind and body and also the existence of god. Descartes theory of mind and body is important to his writings of what passions are because he notes that it is important that the passions do not be associated as part of the mind and body conflict. Descartes also establishes god’s existence in his third meditation. God’s existence is crucial to his solution of how to regulate passions. The passions according to Descartes is a mental state, and not physical. Passions are a part of the soul, it is a very particular type of mental state and differs from other mental states. …show more content…

Passions are caused by movements of the animal spirits which communicate signals back and forth between the brain and the body’s contact points with its surrounding. In the middle of the brain is a small gland that contains the soul, which communicates with rest of the body through the animal spirits, blood, and nerves (Descartes 34). The soul causes the animal spirits to move in a way to receive impressions, the impression is kept in the gland and forms an image (Descartes 34, 35). This image or shape, when seen again in a different situation, arouses the passion (Descartes 36). Passions prepare the body for action, but it can sometimes malfunction. The passions are very important to our everyday life. However, passions sometimes malfunction. Passions can cause one to over or underestimate the true value of certain things. This can be harmful or beneficial. An example of how one can overestimate a passion is if someone were to once be

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