A reader writes:
It sounds to me like Jonah Lehrer has very shallow understanding of 'the Greeks' and philosophy in general. Aristotle and Plato are both acutely aware of the effects of the passions on judgment. So is Decartes. Hume thought morality was all emotion. Even Aquinas, in the secunda pars, talks about the effect of passions on our decisions as much or more than he talks about the intellect.
It is my absolute pet peeve when scientists 'discover' something that philosophers have been writing about for thousands of years, but think they're hot shit because they don't do their homework.