Abstract:

Most contemporary philosophers of emotion ignore or neglect Thomas Aquinas views on emotions and directly cite Aristotle for support or to show their philosophical positions. However, although Aquinas’ views on virtues and emotions extensively follow Aristotle’s philosophy, he develops more sophisticated and detailed analysis of virtues and emotions. Summa Theologica, a masterpiece of medieval philosophy, is approximately a four-thousand page book and provides comprehensive interpretation of Aristotle’s philosophy. It also examines the ideas of many philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Avicenna, Anselm, Augustinus, Damescene, Seneca and Cicero. In this paper, we examine Aquinas’ philosophy of emotion and its philosophical grounds. To do so, we first explain his views of soul in relation to his metaphysics. Within the framework of his conception of the soul, we shall explore his theory of emotion and try to show how he does apply his views in a particular emotion, that is, fear.

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