Davor,
thanks for your interesting question.
Pity: sympathy or sorrow for other's suffering; cause of grief or regret;
[Latin Pietas=Piety]
(definition borrowed from Webster's dictionary)
IMO it is a crystal clear example of how the social level can *use*
biological emotions as resource.
I'd say that sorrow, grief, regrets.. are biological. The ability to feel
them is biologically inherited, and there's not strictly need of a social
interaction to suffer them.
Pity is a social pattern we can learn since we are kids (IMO it's not
biologically inherited) created to *share emotions*. Pity makes it become
bad for everyone within a social environment that even only one member is
suffering. This way, society creates dams and dykes to channelize biology
toward a common good.
I'd add that while feeling sorrow is perfectly natural to every human being,
pity and compassion is a value only within certain societies. Other kind of
societies (think of military organizations) could find it unnecessary,
valuing hard competition between members, and assuming sorrow as a weakness
that should be hidden and absolutely not shared. That's an alternative way
to channelize biology toward a common good.
thanks again,
Marco
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Vlaar" <elkeaapheefteen@hotmail.com>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: MD Emotions and the MOQ
>
> He all,
>
> short note: not all emotions are biologic, emotions can be ''born'' on the
> social level too I think, I think most emotions are biological but my
latest
> fascination for habits make me believe something else maybe you can prove
me
> wrong; Is pity an emotion if so is it biological? Or is it just a
religional
> doctrine?
>
> Davor
>
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