Abstract

In this short article I discuss a few aspects of Damasio's theory of emotions. My goal is mainly to clarify the position of the author, with particular regard to his proposal of identifying emotions to the modifications of the bodily state triggered by a certain class of stimuli. I will argue that Damasio's theory can be properly characterized as a weak version of the so-called theory of affect programs and that the identification of emotions with bodily patterns appears to be not fully convincing, even on the perspective of the author's framework.