Passive Affect
Passive affects are emotions where we are acted upon by external causes we do not understand — the source of emotional bondage.
In depth
When your emotional state is determined by external things you do not understand, you experience passive affects. Jealousy, fear, envy, superstitious hope — these are all passive because they arise from inadequate ideas about what is affecting you. You feel tossed around by fortune because you do not grasp the causes of your states.
Why it matters
Spinoza's ethical project centers on moving from passive to active affects. You cannot simply will away fear or jealousy, but you can understand their causes. As your understanding grows, the passive affect weakens and is replaced by an active one.
Source references
- Ethics III.P1-P3
- Ethics IV
Connected concepts
Appears in paths
Activity from adequate ideas; passivity from inadequate ideas
Complex emotions as compositions of the primitives
Passive affects from external determination; active affects from adequate causation
Determinism is universal, but bondage is specifically human
Bondage defined: seeing the better, following the worse
An emotion is overcome only by a stronger contrary emotion