Construct · 4 fields · 6 citations
One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.
● jingle · one word, four constructs Nearest construct by meaningattachmentcompare the meaningsEvery construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to affection is attachment.
Hold this as a prompt, not a verdict. Two constructs sitting close in meaning is a reason to read them side by side and decide for yourself whether they are one idea under two names. It is not proof that they are. Compare the meanings in the Collider.
Spokes are fields; dashed arcs are shared lineage. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.
Drag to watch the word get claimed. Each field appears at the publication date of the earliest source cited for it. Tap a year to see which.
Kircher's 1650 Musurgia universalis set out how music can move a listener's passions, treating particular styles and figures as means to stir fixed emotional states, and Mattheson's 1739 Der vollkommene Capellmeister organised that idea into a full theory later called the doctrine of the affections (Affektenlehre). In this meaning an affection is a stable, named emotion, such as joy, grief, or anger, that a piece of music is composed to represent and to arouse in the listener. The referent here is an expressive aim written into a composition, not a modification of a substance in metaphysics, a change to a vowel in phonology, or a tender bond between two people.[1][2]
Spinoza's 1677 Ethics uses affection (Latin affectio) for a modification or state that a substance undergoes: in his terms the modes of a thing are the affections of a substance, that which exists in and is conceived through something else. The word therefore names any way a thing is altered or determined, whether a state of the mind or of the body, rather than the thing itself, a usage with older roots in scholastic Latin. This referent is a general metaphysical category for how something is modified, distinct from an emotion aroused by music, a phonological change to a vowel, or a bond of fondness studied in psychology.[3]
Thurneysen's 1946 A grammar of Old Irish uses affection for a change in a vowel's quality caused by a sound in a nearby syllable, describing i-affection, a-affection, and u-affection, a standard label in the historical phonology of the Celtic languages. In this meaning an affection is a regular alteration of speech sounds, where a vowel is pulled toward the articulation of an i, a, or u in a following syllable. The referent is a matter of phonology over time, and it has nothing to do with an emotion aroused by music, a modification of substance in metaphysics, or a bond of fondness beyond sharing the word.[4]
Harlow's 1958 The nature of love described an affectional system in infant rhesus monkeys, the set of responses by which the young form a preference for and cling to a caregiver, and Bowlby's 1969 Attachment made the affectional bond central to human development. In this meaning an affection, or affectional bond, is an enduring emotional tie in which one individual seeks closeness to and comfort from a specific other. The referent is a measured relationship between two people or animals, distinct from an emotion written into music, a modification of a substance, or a change to a vowel.[5][6]
Next
See how affection sits against neighbouring constructs in the Collider, or export every reference on this page in one click.
Open in ColliderExport BibTeXReport this collisionCited on this page?
If your work is cited behind one of these entries, you know better than we do whether we captured the meaning right. Confirm it, suggest an edit, or dispute it, and your name goes on the entry as an author who has checked it, linked to your ORCID.
Claim your construct