Blackwell Reference Online

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Anger is sudden courage; that is, the sudden or abrupt belief that one will not be hurt by an object that one is resisting (L 6.18). One might object to this definition in at least three ways. First, it seems odd to think of anger as a belief, rather than a passion or emotion. Second, it rules out cases in which people slowly get angry. Third, people sometimes get angry even when they know that it may increase their chances of being injured by whatever is causing them to get angry. It is not clear to me what Hobbes would say in reply to these. Sometimes he gives the impression that some of his definitions are stipulative; but at other times he seems to want them to be descriptive. And I would expect a definition of anger to be closer to a descriptive definition than to a stipulative one. ... log in or subscribe to read full text