From Plato to Ellis. A Short Investigation of the Concept of Emotions

AbstractEver since ancient times, emotions have been studied and intrigued the scientists. In this article, we set out to see how perspectives upon the concept of emotions have changed over time and according to each approach. We briefly discuss about two major Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotles, move on to more recent times with Descartes and Darwin, change the pace again with Sartre as the representative of phenomenology and end up with the cognitivists’ approach presented by Johson and Laird, Lazarus, Frijda and Ellis, with the main focus on Ellis’ ABC model based on the Rational Emotive Behavior Theory