Abstract

The article traces a history of what the author calls the cognitive theory of emotions. According to him, the overwhelming majority of cognitivists (from Aristotle to Lyons, passing by Arnold) argue that the object of emotion corresponds to the evaluation of a reality. Despite the careful cognitive analysis of the elements that constitute passion and emotion, they lack an adequate answer to the two central questions of every theory on emotion: what is the origin and function of evaluation? Why do we judge the object in a positive or negative way?