ABSTRACT
Of course, interest in this issue goes back much further than just a few decades. In fact, ever since the dawn of human civilization, artists, writers, and philosophers as well as laypersons have been fascinated by the delicate relationships between feeling and thinking, affect and cognition. Classic philosophers such as Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus, Descartes, Pascal, Kant, and others devoted considerable attention to the role of affect in human affairs. Plato was one of the earlier representatives of a long line of thinkers who believed that affect constitutes a more primitive, animalistic mode of responding that is incompatible with reason, and has an invasive, dangerous influence on rational thinking and behavior. The basic idea that affective reactions “tend to overwhelm or subvert rational mental processes” (Elster, 1985, p. 379) has been echoed in many philosophical, social, and psychological theories throughout the ages: Tarde, LeBon, and Freud are just a few classic theorists who saw emotion as a dangerous influence. Others, such as Arthur Koestler (1978), even suggested that the inability of human beings to fully understand and control their affective states is due to a “fatal flaw” in the way our central nervous system evolved that may ultimately threaten the very survival of our species.
