III. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EMOTIONS
Emotions have always been of central concern to men and women down the ages. Almost every great philosopher from Aristotle to Spinoza, from Kant to Dewey, from Bergson to Russel has been concerned with the nature of emotion and has speculated and theorised about its origins, expressions, effects, and its place in human life. Theologians have recognised the significance of certain emotions in relation to religious experience and considered the training of emotions a central, if implicit, part of religious formation. Writers, artists, and musicians have always attempted to appeal to the emotions, to affect and move the audience through symbolic communication. And in the last half century developments in psychoanalysis, clinical psychology, and psychosomatic medicine have brought into sharper focus the role of emotion in health and disease (Lazarus, 1991). Unlike the works of the early philosophers the later theories of emotions tend to be informed by advances in empirical research. Often these theories are not mutually exclusive and many researchers incorporate multiple perspectives in their work.