How did Spinoza distinguish between emotions and passions? Give an example of each.
Baruch Spinoza was born in the Amsterdam under the custody of Portuguese Jewish parents in the year 1632. He proposed that nature, mind and God were all separate entities that are anthropomorphic in nature. In the Ethics, Spinoza proposed a number of self-evident axioms to deduce the faith of truths about the condition of nature.
Thus, Spinoza characterized two different experienced areas known as emotions and passions that are well-distinguished from each other and can be seen in the tabulated form as shown below are as follows:-
| Emotions | Passions |
| 1. It increases the chance of probability of survival situations. | 1. It reduces the chance of probability of survival conditions. |
| 2. It involves a major and specific thought. | 2. It does not involve any particular kind of thought. |
| 3. It causes adaptive type of behavior. | 3. It causes nonadaptive type of behavior. |
| 4. It is guided by behavior and thoughts that are detrimental to survival conditions. | 4. It is not controlled by behavior and thoughts. |
| 5. A child’s love towards its mother signifies the example of emotions. | 5. A major emotional stressful conditions reflects the example of passions. |