Hi Stephen and others,
Just a few thoughts on emotions. I tend to agree with you, Stephen, that we
shouldn't be trying to squeeze emotions into a metaphysical category just
for tidiness sake.
I hit my finger with a hammer. Apart from the pain there will be emotions
such as (perhaps) anger (at my stupidity), frustration (now I won't be able
to play my guitar tonight), sadness (this confirms my suspicions that my
dexterity is slipping away), and so on. Yet the causal event is physical.
My girl friend leaves me. A social situation will cause the various emotions
connected with this to arise. (But I now have a significantly higher risk of
developing cancer in the next twelve months.)
I hear that Nelson Mandela has been released from prison. While the event
may be partly social for Nelson, for me it is relief, pleasure, jubilation,
or whatever, that a higher intellectual good has prevailed over a lower. In
other words, the trigger for these emotions is predominantly intellectual,
though not without a moral component.
I watch a TV program on the moons of Jupiter. I experience a variety of
emotions including interest, fascination, wonder, etc derived from my purely
intellectual interest in this topic.
(Hypothetical) I meditate and experience a sense of oneness with everything.
According to those who do experience such things, there can be profound
emotions including well-being, joy, equanimity, release, etc as a result of
this interior experience.
Some people think there is a core group of emotions (anger/rage, sexual,
pleasure, sadness) which are associated with the brain stem and the
so-called reptilian brain. These may well be shared with other organisms.
Most other emotions would seem to be restricted to humans, and some are
quite sophisticated, eg anticipation, or reminiscing.
I think emotions are such a complex set of phenomena that it is just foolish
to try to lump them all in a category such as social.
John B
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