Maybe, because I put enough effort to finish this despite my laziness. So there. Here goes my Eng10 final paper. Enjoy!
Just Emotions – Taking You Over
Emotions comprise a big part of a human being. A certain feeling could literally force man to do a particular action without further consultation on what the consequences might be.
But before we dwell on examples of what emotions causes, let us first tackle what the word “emotions” mean.
Define “Emotion”
Emotion has various meanings and most of the time it is commonly associated with the word “feeling.” However, since we aim to have a clear understanding of “emotions,” I decided to lay down some definitions of “emotions” and be able to construct a more comprehensive meaning. But before going through this, let us remember that “emotion” is a social phenomenon solely responsible for man being able to relate to one another.
The dictionary meaning of emotion is a mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes, which implies that emotions are mostly experienced unconsciously by the human brain or the rational mind.
Emotion is considered to be a kind of motion (e-motion), a motion outward. It is said that emotion originally connotes disturbance or turbulence in the weather or atmosphere although; today it now means a turbulent experiences of humans and other animals. Emotions being considered as a disturbance of the mind could also mean paralyzing severely the rationality of the mind.
All in all, we could say that an emotion is nothing more than a feeling or passion that causes a person to act vehemently in an excited state of the mind.
Emotional irrationality
After we lay down and came up to a more comprehensible definition for emotion, we discovered that an emotion is more of an impulsive thing that man experiences. With the lack of the proper function of the mind and only an emotional basis to lead man, man might do something regrettable that could result to a bigger chaos. But are emotions really meant to be irrational?
We might ask as to why in the first place are emotions connected with the idea of irrationality. Answers are simple. First, it is because when an emotion, fear for example, has a complete grasp on your consciousness, you lose the will to face matters bravely rather you try ignoring or hiding from a certain problem. Also, certain emotions could make you do something really impulsive and thinking about it always comes secondhand.
Second, no one with a rational mind would like to succumb to what our feelings tell us, though this would be highly subjective to the person involved and the incident experienced. In simpler words, this phenomenon occurs with the distinction of the “emotional” and the “rational” or what is commonly known to be the battle of the “heart” and the “mind.”
To be emotional is to be irrational, because rationality is based on looking at what our actions could result to and not because of what it could make us feel.
Nevertheless, it might seem confusing to go against what passion tells man since as said above, passion can paralyze consciousness. Hence, emotions, no matter how irrational it might seem to be, once it took over you, the so-called rational you, will be able to make you do what it wills.
An “Emotional” brain
Having two choices in making decisions, you might think of the possibility of the existence of an “emotional” brain. It is a known fact that there is only one existing biological brain in man’s body. Rational thinking is only a function of the brain and so is emotion.
Remember that we discussed about the idea of “emotion” as an irrational feeling, consequently this was the same reason as to why some psychologist conducted the study about human’s having a “Dinosaur Brain.”
The “Dinosaur Brain” came from the idea of the “emotional” brain. The human brain consists of a cortex which is the center of thinking and reasoning. Stacked below it is the dinosaur brain responsible for emotional reactions which is called the amygdala.
The amygdala is in charge of the affection felt between humans and almost all passion is dependable on it. Human actions, that are considered emotional, are all caused by its function.
It seems ironic that the cortex, which is for rational function, be located above the amygdala. Could it be that the brain as an organic part meant to make intelligence more important than feelings?
Emotional Intelligence
Are humans capable of making sound decisions when overwhelmed by emotional reasoning?
The answer would certainly be yes if the question is needed to base on moral values. In making quick moral decisions, emotional reasoning comes in handy. The capacity of the emotions to judge correctly on moral issues is almost always helpful, since morally-concerned issues are socially based ones.
Although, in some instances, when man is prompted to make a decision and he is made to believe that emotions are only disruptive in making sound judgments, he might commit mistakes because of being afraid to be inclined to make emotionally-based decisions. But then, it can also be difficult to say if a certain decision made is based on emotional inclinations since emotions, for one, are hard to measure or balance since they tend to be very unstable.
Society of emotions
There are a lot of thoughts attached to emotions such as irrationality, feelings and, of course, the heart. Moreover, there are also a lot of ideas that can be conjured up by the emotions. Emotion, as mentioned above, is used to be treated as the main business of the social sciences that is focused on the behavior and thought of man. All emotions are fundamentally social, and the existence of emotions in a society is what gives life and excitement to humans.
Emotion gives meaning to man’s existence. Emotion is what makes a living being distinctive from non-living beings. Most especially emotions are what makes human – human. No matter how disruptive emotions seem to be, it all boils down to one thing – that emotions are part of the human life. And it’s all thanks to emotions that we feel certain things towards anyone or anything around us.
Rationality alone is not enough to suffice human life, emotions are important in cultivating humans – and life.
Indeed, it might be just emotions – taking you over, but those emotions are what makes you – you.
Works Cited
Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. New York:
Bantam Books, 1995.
Kalat, James, and Shiota, Michelle. Emotion. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, 2007.
Bernstein, Albert, and Rozen, Sydney Craft. Dinosaur Brains.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1989.
Dictionary.com. 2009. Dictionary.com, LLC. 8 Mar. 2009.
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Cacioppo, John T. Emotion, Rationality and Human Potential. 2000.
The University of Chicago. 8 Mar. 2009.
P.S. Complete with Works Cited and All :P
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