Hume's own taxonomy conflates the phenomenological mildness of calm passions with their functional role, but mildness of felt intensity does not determine whether a state is cognitive or conative.

?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.

No one has weighed in yet. Be the first to share reasons for or against this statement.

Cognitive: "Cognitive" refers to anything related to thinking, learning, understanding, and processing information in your mind. It includes activities like remembering facts, solving problems, making decisions, and paying attention. When someone talks about "cognitive skills" or "cognitive science," they're discussing how your brain takes in information and uses it to make sense of the world.
Conflates(in argumentation and logic): Treats two different things as if they're the same thing, or mixes them up in a way that causes confusion.
Hume(as the main philosopher discussed in this statement): David Hume was an 18th-century Scottish philosopher who argued that human knowledge comes from experience and observation rather than pure reasoning alone.
Phenomenological(describing the approach to studying self-awareness in this debate): Related to phenomenology, the philosophical study of what it's actually like to experience things and how consciousness works from the inside.

Based on where you are in your exploration

calm passions(a type of emotion Hume distinguished)

Emotions or desires that are quiet, steady, and not intense—like contentment or mild interest, as opposed to excitement or rage.

conative(Velleman's critique)

Pertaining to desire or striving toward an end; love understood as merely conative is love understood merely as aiming at a particular end.

functional role(The criterion by which mental states are identified on the analytic functionalist view.)

A pattern of causal relations that an internal state bears to stimulations, behavior, and other internal states.

mildness (in context of passions)(describing the strength or weakness of emotions)

The quality of being soft, gentle, or weak in intensity—like a calm breeze versus a strong wind.

taxonomy(as used in cognitive science)

A system for organizing and classifying things into categories—like how biologists organize living creatures into species and families.

This idea is waiting for its first supporting or challenging perspective.