The 4 cardinal passions (ambition, friendship, love, familism) are the basis of affective relations. Each one involves both a material aspect (M) and a spiritual one (S):
These 4 passions subdivide also into two modes, major and minor; these two terms have no connotation of size or relative importance; they rather relate to the two modes in music. Here the term "major" refers to public life and extraverted pursuits, while "minor" applies to private life and introverted pursuits. The major mode takes a small precedence of the minor one.
The two major passions are ambition and friendship. The leading one is ambition, and so it is called hyper-major, while friendship is called hypo-minor.
The two minor passions are love and familism. The leading one is love, and so it is called hyper-minor, while familism is called hypo-minor.
The two hyper-passions (ambition and love) are essentially compound, involving both a material and a spiritual element; on the other hand, the two hypo-passions (friendship and familism) are essentially simple, because they are bound to one side: friendship is essentially spiritual, while familism depends on blood kinship.
In each mode, the correct development of of the hyper-passion is necessary to that of the hypo-passion. In Civilization, things are done in the wrong way: love is subordinated to familism, while the demands of ambition are neglected under the pretext of friendship.
Each cardinal passion gives a characteristic direction to the group which it animates:
To each age corresponds a dominating cardinal passion:
Fourier's favourite cardinal passion is love.