Aristotle's view of emotion is actually the prototype of what psychologists now call the “cognitive theory of emotion.” There are currently several variations of this approach, some of which will be reviewed in the next chapter. However, the earlier classical approaches to emotion offered by Sigmund Freud and William James are still important and deserving of some discussion.

Terms like “moral virtue”, “practical wisdom,” “soul,” and the like, were dropped from all but philosophical discourse a long time ago. But the ideas to which these terms refer are still very much with us. “Virtue ethics” has always been a part of psychology. In the following pages I discuss emotion and virtue from a psychological point of view rather than in the terms of philosophy.

It seems appropriate to begin with the most famous of all psychologists, Sigmund Freud. Freud was a scholar of many disciplines and familiar with Ancient Greek thought. Greek terms like ego, Eros, and Oedipus are fundamental to his theory. One of Freud's most important contributions was his re-statement of Plato's analysis of soul. Two thousand years ago Plato divided the human soul into three parts: the appetitive, the spirited, and the rational. Of course, appetite refers to desire and needs. The spirited part of Plato's soul referred to the action/behavior of many living things symbolized by the spirited horse.