APATHY. In the history of moral philosophy the term apathy indicates the negative side of an ideal of life that is characterized positively by peace of mind and the rational guidance of conduct, and negatively by the absence of passions and emotional excitement. Such an ideal is characteristic of eastern philosophy generally, also of ancient Stoicism, and even of certain forms of ancient Epicureanism. Of modern philosophies Spinozism is frequently identified with this ideal of life. Cer tainly Spinoza identified human bondage with the dominance of the passions, which man must master in order to be free. But one must not exaggerate the unemotional side of Spinozism so far as to lose sight of its highest ideal of life—the intellectual love of God.
In psychology and in popular usage the term apathy denotes merely an absence of feeling or of interest, and is sometimes synonymous with listlessness, or absence of emotional sensi bility. In this sense apathy may be a symptom of certain patho logical mental conditions, such as melancholy.