Definition
In Stoic usage, the passions — in Greek, pathe — are not emotions in general but specifically the excessive, disordered emotions that disturb the mind. Classic examples are fear, craving, distress, and inflated elation.
The Stoics traced each passion to a faulty judgment: the belief that some external thing is genuinely good or bad, rather than merely preferred or dispreferred. Correct the judgment, they argued, and the passion loses its grip.
Why it matters
How it works
A passion forms in a sequence: an impression appears, the mind assents to a judgment about it, and an emotion follows. If the judgment is mistaken — for instance, treating a lost possession as a real evil — the resulting emotion is a passion that distorts behavior.
The Stoics did not aim to become cold or feelingless. They distinguished the passions from the eupatheiai, the well-reasoned states such as rational joy, caution, and goodwill. The goal is not the absence of feeling but the absence of feelings built on false beliefs.