Passion
PASSION
From the Latin passio (Gr. πάθος), meaning something suffered or undergone, has a variety of significations. In its etymological sense it refers to physical suffering, particularly that associated with the martyrdom of early Christians (see passio). In a broader philosophical meaning, as opposed to action it signifies the reception of the activity of some extrinsic agent or mover, and as such is enumerated among the categories of being (see action and passion). It is used also to designate the species of quality according to which there can be alteration (see motion), and, by extension, to signify any attribute, affection, or property of a subject. In psychology, Cartesian usage identifies passions with states of the soul resulting from the action of "animal spirits"; Aristotelian and scholastic usage, on the other hand, refers to all types of emotional activity as passions (see emotion). More commonly accepted usages refer to any violent or intense emotion, particularly an ardent affection for one of the opposite sex, as passion (see love; sex). Among Christians, the word is frequently used to indicate the sufferings of Christ.
[w. a. wallace]