Apathy

Abstract

"Apathy" is a term of ancient philosophy, which was also used by representatives of patristics, medieval scholasticism and New Age philosophy. "Apathy", depending on the understanding of affectability as the ability to undergo an impact, can mean the absence of any suffering (passion, affect), immunity to this or that influence or non-subjection to it. In the broadest sense, there are two types of nonafficiability: general nonafficiability as immunity to any influence (ontological connotation), and special (spiritual) nonafficiability as immunity to passions or as freedom from passions (ethical connotation). The most common Latin equivalents of the Greek term ἀπάθεια are "impassibilitas", "tranquillitas". The article shows what shades of meaning were conveyed using these terms by ancient philosophers (pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Neoplatonists), numerous representatives of Greek and Latin patristics, representatives of medieval philosophy (Thomas Aquinas) and New Age philosophy (Spinoza, Kant).