The Passions of the Soul | work by Descartes

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class="h-100 grid gx-0 gx-lg-20"> <div class="h-100 col-sm d-flex flex-column"> <div class="toc-sticky-header d-none d-lg-none bg-gray-50 px-10 px-sm-30 position-sticky w-100 "> <div class="toc-sticky-header-inner-container align-items-center d-flex mx-auto h-100 w-100"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-sm btn-white text-blue border-2 border-gray-100 gtm-mobile-toc-header-button js-sections-button d-lg-none p-10"> <em class="material-icons my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Contents </button> <div class="header-ai-ask-button-placeholder"></div> <div class="header-ai-summarize-button-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <div class="grey-box w-100 grey-box-middle"> <div class="grey-box-content mx-auto w-100"> <br class="d-block mt-20"> <div class="topic-header"> <div class="d-flex align-items-top justify-content-between"> <div class="d-flex flex-column"> <div> <div> <h1>The Passions of the Soul</h1></div> </div> <div class="topic-identifier font-16 font-md-20">work by Descartes</div> </div> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-flex flex-row"> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: “Traité des passions de l’âme”</div> </div> <div id="ref1"><section class="index-entries"><h2 class="h3"><strong>Learn about this topic</strong> in these articles:</h2><section><h3>discussed in biography</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/176962-050-4BC9F588/Rene-Descartes.jpg?w=300" alt="René Descartes" data-width="1260" data-height="1600" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Descartes/Physics-physiology-and-morals#ref478331" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">René Descartes: Physics, physiology, and morals</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Despite such arguments, in his <em>Passions of the Soul</em> (1649), which he dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden (reigned 1644–54), Descartes holds that most bodily actions are determined by external material causes.</p><a class="read-more" href="/biography/Rene-Descartes/Physics-physiology-and-morals#ref478331">Read More</a></li></ul></section><section><h3>significance in history of philosophy</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/41/66541-050-E52AF2FC/Plutarch-c-100-ce.jpg?w=300" alt="Plutarch" data-width="1305" data-height="1600" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Western-philosophy/The-rationalism-of-Descartes#ref365857" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Western philosophy: The rationalism of Descartes</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…<em>Principles of Philosophy</em> (1644) and <em>The Passions of the Soul</em> (1649), and a mathematical bias that dominates the theory of method in <em>Rules for the Direction of the Mind</em> (1701) and the metaphysics of the <em>Meditations on the First Philosophy</em> (1642). But it is the mathematical theme that clearly predominates…</p><a class="read-more" href="/topic/Western-philosophy/The-rationalism-of-Descartes#ref365857">Read More</a></li></ul></section></section></div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320" data-page="1"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"INDEX","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":445833,"pageLength":0,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"INDEX","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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