Hi everybody,
Thank you for the input, and your questions have made me redefine my
ideas more concretely, I'm just starting to fit everything into the MoQ
framework but I'll try to be more specific this time. When I'm talking about
emotions being part of the social level, I thought of it in terms of
evolution. Emotions are a pattern that begins with and is forever linked to
the social level. The only reason I used animals as an example is because by
only looking at humans, it is difficult for me to distinguish where a
certain trait like emotion fits. Was it during the biological, social or
intellectual levels?
The implied theory in my previous message is that by looking at other
species and appraising the presence of a certain trait and their development
along those levels of quality, we could pinpoint the trait along the path of
evolution.
I'm not saying that cats aren't social, far from it. I love my cat. I was
just trying to make the point that dogs being a more social animal appear to
have more prevalent emotionals.
I had to do some research on this topic, starting by asking myself why I
think emotion is a social phenomenon. Emotions are what makes sex with love
feel so good but sex without love feel not so good the next day. It's as if
emotions are of a higher quality than biological satisfaction. This is where
I got the idea. Of course emotions can also be a bad thing, the ridiculous
love by a stalker, blind rage leading to murder or fear that makes you
freeze in the sight of oncoming traffic are undoubtedly bad things. The
intellectual level, thus, superceedes emotions.
In terms of the brain, emotions are part of the limbic system. The limbic
system is the centre of emotions. There are three layers of the brain, one
built on top of the other in terms of evolution from animals up to man. The
reptilian brain, the limbic system, and the cortex. (see below). Sounds so
much like the static levels of quality that it is almost astonishing. As if
those level were picked not arbitrarily as neat divisions but because out
brain is actually divided into those segments. Obviously the levels of
quality are our system of classification. As if by classifying a platypus as
either a mammal or a reptile has any effect on what a platypus actually is.
It's simply our way of understanding how they fit into our framework. The
framework itself requires a division point, a natural place where divisions
in levels of quality arise. Naturally these levels will occur in divisions
within the brain.
The Brain has an Essentially Triune Structure
Brain Stem and Reptilian Brain (R-Complex)
* spinal chord -- relays messages
* medulla -- basic life support systems
* pons -- links cerebellum with cortex controls some facial expressions and
eye movements
* midbrain -- controls reflex responses
* cerebellum -- kinesthetic senses
o Basic physiological functions
o Primary motor functions
o Instinctive or genetically-programmed behaviors
o Primitive sensations
o Aggression, territoriality, and dominance
o Reproductive behaviors
Mammalian Brain (Limbic System)
* hippocampus -- emotions, conditioning, memory storage
* amygdala -- emotions, smell
* hypothalamus -- physiological functions, hormone levels
* pituitary gland -- produces hormones, under direction of hypothalamus
* thalamus -- processes perceptions (except smell), and sends information to
the cortex
* Emotions and Altruism
* Religious tendencies
* Sexuality
* Complex sensation and perception
* Short Term Memory and storage (into Long Term memory)
Neocortex (85% of human brain mass)
* Cerebrum -- covers most of rest of brain divided into two hemispheres,
each with four lobes deeply fissured and folded: frontal lobes -- language
processing and complex thinking, parietal lobes -- perceptual processing,
occipital lobes -- vision, temporal lobes -- hearing, expression, and memory
* Cerebral Cortex -- outer layer or covering of the cerebrum controls
thought and language
* Corpus Callosum -- connects the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex
* The distinctively human part of the brain controls and adjusts functions
of other parts of the brain, produces thoughts, governs language, and stores
memories
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk [mailto:owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk]On
Behalf Of HisSheedness@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 10:20 PM
To: moq_discuss@moq.org
Subject: Re: MD Things and levels
Hi Rob.
In response to your last post, in which you assert that emotions are
exclusively social, what about human emotions? Does the fact that a person
is isolated prevent her from having emotions? Emotions aren't just based on
reactions to other people, they also arise from reactions to objects,
events,
etc.
Rasheed
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