What is the distinction between reason and passion?
Immanuel Kant saw thought as determined by what he called categories. Close parallels can be made between these categories and what Freud called ego defences, which are ways of coping with unpleasant memories, feelings, experiences and so forth. I would say that this indicates there is a closer connection between reason and passion than is immediately apparent, namely that beliefs and apparently rational thought processes are actually completely determined by passion. We tend to prefer arguments which justify our current position. For instance, someone who is in a poorly paid job may unconsciously arrive at a convincing reason why their job is a good one, someone in a less than ideal relationship may see positive qualities in their partner that aren’t really there and someone with an extreme political opinion will probably have a sensible-sounding argument for it. I would say that this process is actually universal. All “rational” thought is in fact rationalisation – an emotional attem
