Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T22:33:36.047Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Some Critical Reflections on Prevalent Notions Regarding “Affect” and “Emotion.”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

J. H. MacDonald*
Affiliation:
Glasgow District Mental Hospital, Hawkhead; University of Glasgow

Extract

The physicist, in his endeavour to explain natural phenomena, has, in the course of his investigations and observations, discovered certain laws which appear to be constant and applicable to the phenomena in question. On the basis of those laws he has evolved theories which provide him with an intelligible appreciation of the mechanism involved. The law embraces and synthetizes a large number of observations, but it also serves as a point of departure for new observations. Whilst the law may be constant, the theories may undergo modification, as new facts come to light, as has occurred, for example, in the case of the atomic theory. Amongst physicists there is, however, a readiness to consider new discoveries, to put them to the test, and, if they are found to be in harmony with determined laws, to incorporate them in the theoretical scheme.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1932

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Read at the Ninety-First Annual Meeting of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association held at Stirling, July 14, 1932.

Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.