René Descartes' (1596-1650) Passiones Animae or Passions of the Soul, the last of his works, was originally published in French, but was translated into Latin for this Elzevier edition. Descartes builds upon what was previously written about the 'passions', which had been a subject for discussion since the time of Plato. Since the modern period, the passions are known as human emotions. According to Descartes' theory, the passions attack the soul and force the body to commit certain, sometimes inappropriate actions.