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Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny

Vol. 33 No. 2 (2025): A Tribute to Thomas Aquinas

Philosophy

Thomas Aquinas on the Cognitive Nature of Emotions

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52097/wpt.9641  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2026-01-05

Abstract

The article presents the concept of emotions in the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. In particular, the article focuses on the issue of the cognitive character of emotions and it attempts to answer the question: is the cognitive element constitutive of emotions? For this purpose, the article presents the debate of contemporary researchers of Aquinas’ legacy on this topic and the arguments of both sides of the dispute. The first part of the article shows Aquinas’ general concept of emotions, as well as his outline of the taxonomy of emotions. The following parts of the article consider the problems of the object of emotions and the intentionality of emotions. In particular, the article deals with the question of the mutual relationship between emotions and cognition. It is also an attempt to answer the question of how Aquinas explains the relationship between emotions and cognition. The second part of the article discusses the problem of the object of emotions as their efficient and formal cause. This part addresses the issue of how the object of emotions is the source of their nature and identity. The third part of the article is a reconstruction of the most important trends in the contemporary debate about the cognitive interpretation of Aquinas’ theory of emotions.

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