THEORIES OF EMOTION IN ETIENNE CHAUVIN’S LEXICON PHILOSOPHICUM

This paper touches on various philosophical theories of emotionthrough the analysis of a few entries in the Lexicon philosophicum (1692, 17132) by EtienneChauvin: the articles “Affectus” and “Passio” (‘emotion’) and “Admiratio” (‘wonder’).Chauvin’s Lexicon is usually considered to be the first ‘modern’ philosophical dictionary.By investigating its definitions and sources – the scholastic sources, such as thecommentaries on Aristotle, as well as the modern ones, such as Bacon, Descartes and theCartesian Pierre Cally – I will provide some instances of the complexity of this work.In many entries of the Lexicon, he lists different opinions on the same subjectwithout taking up a position of his own. Here and there, however, he distances himselfnot only from the scholastic tradition, but also from Descartes’ natural philosophy andmetaphysics. On the whole, Chauvin seems to be distrustful of the pretense ofconstructing all-embracing systems of philosophy, and he is more interested inunderlining the continuity between modern, scholastic and ancient philosophy, ratherthan emphasizing the novelty of Descartes’ thought.