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Unfolding Nature Shop: Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

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Offlinemorrowasted
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Emotion as a rational judgment
    #21360126 - 03/04/15 09:16 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

I will post this in segments to reduce tl;dr responses.

I just finished up this book:



"As if every passion did not have its quantum of reason."
Friedrich Nietzsche, Will to Power

Hypothesis:

Emotions are rational judgments about the world that function as strategies: "Every emotion is a subjective strategy for the maximization of personal dignity and self-esteem. The strategy of an emotion... must be understood, in each particular case, as devices and tactics to maximize one's sense of self-worth, using whatever circumstantial facts and objects to its advantage."


Section I: A Rejection of Alternative Theories of Emotion

  • Emotions as feelings:
        Emotions are often understood to be synonymous with feelings. Solomon rejects this notion, stating that feelings correspond to physiological processes which may not match the emotion in question. One may be angry without feeling angry, one may feel angry without being angry, and one may feel euphoric yet be angry.
  • Emotions as physiological responses:
        Emotions are often understood as patterns of organic/metabolic responses. This approach, however, ignores the idea of the "emotion felt," focusing only on the measurable processes that correspond to it- which, in fact, vary considerably.
  • The "hydraulic model":
        According to this model- which is the most deeply embedded in our shared cultural mythology/language and which was first popularized in explicit psychological terminology by Sigmund Freud- emotions are uncontrollable responses to or results of environmental cues. These responses "build up" and must be "expressed" or "discharged" in some way so that they don't "overflow". This theory has been retained in various forms using quasi-Newtonian terms like "psychic energy" and "force". The defining characteristic of this model is the passivity of the agent- the person having the emotion in question. This passivity has been deeply embedded in our language before Freud- the court "finds" the defendant guilty, people have "outburts" of emotion, people "fall" in love. Solomon's basic response is that people are still conflating feeling/sensation with emotion. People don't fall in "love", they fall into a set of sensations, and in response to that set of sensations they may or may not judge that it is appropriate to love someone given the set of strategies they employ with regard to their self-worth.


Parts II and III to come.

Of course, this is all about re-adjusting semantics. How should we think about emotions? Are there advantages to thinking about them in any particular way? Can understanding the concept of an emotion allow one to have more insight about the emotions that one has?

What do you think an emotion is? Is it merely a feeling? Is it a metabolic process? Is it some response to our environment? Is it something else?

Let's discuss.

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InvisibleThe Doobie Dude


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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: morrowasted]
    #21360152 - 03/04/15 09:23 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Emotions are not rational judgements and im a fan of Nietzsche.

If emotions were rational judgements women would hold more political power and women would love their periods.


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"There are a million reasons to drink and one just popped into my head.  If a man can't drink when he's living how the Hell can he drink when he's dead?" - Irish Limerick
I PLURed once because it was PLUR or die. - D.M.T.

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OfflineSurReality
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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: The Doobie Dude]
    #21360168 - 03/04/15 09:26 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

i think to an extent they can be. think fast decisions, when you don't consciously understand reasoning, is undoubtedly a survival trait.


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Offlinemorrowasted
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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: The Doobie Dude]
    #21360189 - 03/04/15 09:29 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

The Doobie Dude said:
Emotions are not rational judgements and im a fan of Nietzsche.

If emotions were rational judgements women would hold more political power and women would love their periods.



I think you are interpreting the word rational the second sense of the passage as follows:

"It is necessary to distinguish between two senses of rationality: In the first sense, all emotions are rational; in the second sense, only some are. In the first sense, it is often said that "man is rational"; in other words, he is intelligent, capable of solving geometric theorems and crossword puzzles. To be rational in this sense is to operate with concepts, to formulate plans and strategies, to deal with novel situations. In this sense all emotions are rational.

But to operate with concepts and formulate plans and strategies is not necessarily to do so effectively. To do so well is to be rational in the second sense; to do so badly is to be irrational. This second sense of rationality is an evaluative concept; it presupposes rationality in the first sense and evaluates our logic and our strategies in terms of their consistency and effectiveness." (188)

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OfflineMental Taco
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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: morrowasted]
    #21360231 - 03/04/15 09:39 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Good post,  it makes me think. I feel that Rationality is entirely subjective. Ya there is the concrete definition of rationality but what may be in my mind a totally rational decision, may seem totally unreasonable to you.


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OfflineSurReality
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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: Mental Taco]
    #21360239 - 03/04/15 09:42 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

yea the idea the people are rational i think is mostly an idea in economics. and in the sense that people are rational then, irrationality is just a myth, not a matter of subjectivity.


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Offlinemorrowasted
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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: Mental Taco]
    #21360264 - 03/04/15 09:48 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

Mental Taco said:
Good post,  it makes me think. I feel that Rationality is entirely subjective. Ya there is the concrete definition of rationality but what may be in my mind a totally rational decision, may seem totally unreasonable to you.



One thing he also points out is that emotional distinctions are subjective. In Greek, there are four different words that correspond to the English word for Love. That isn't to say that we don't feel those four different kinds of Greek love, but only that we use the same word for all of them. You can make many distinctions, or you can make very few. Some psychologists argue that Love and Fear are the only two "real" emotions. The point is not the words we use. The point is that we make judgments that manifest in strategies that dictate our actions. Those judgments ARE our emotions. We can make many distinctions between those kinds of judgments, or few distinctions, but the judgments themselves are the emotions, but they are rational in the sense that they are intelligent, but not in the sense that they are always efficacious.

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OfflineGreenfish
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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: morrowasted]
    #21360695 - 03/04/15 11:21 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Does anyone else feel that emotions are addictive? I strongly feel that they are. We do things in life to feel certain emotions sometimes. I feel bad emotions are especially addictive.(depression) I know that feeling emotions for me is like "chasing a dragon". I know that the emotions I feel are like drugs for me at times, I constantly want to feel it. 

Just one of my angles of thought on it

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Offlinemorrowasted
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Re: Emotion as a rational judgment [Re: Greenfish]
    #21360709 - 03/04/15 11:28 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Solomon would argue that feelings- being chemically driven- are certainly addictive.

He might also argue that we can become habituated to certain emotions, like resentment. It allows us to focus on the object of our emotion rather than taking action, and in that sense it could be said to be "addictive".

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Unfolding Nature Shop: Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order


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