Emotions: Difference between revisions

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Emotions happen as a response to your value-judgements of a particular object, person, event, etc.; and in order for man to have a legitimate value-judgement of something he must first ''know'' something about it.  Reason gives him knowledge, and his value-judgements, based on that knowledge, give him emotions.  Thus, man cannot have emotions without first possessing knowledge; in addition, the extent of his knowledge of something will determine his emotional involvement in it.
'''Emotions''' are a response to your [[value]]-judgments of a particular object, person, event, etc.; and in order for [[man]] to have a legitimate value-judgment of something he must first ''know'' something about it.  [[Reason]] gives him [[knowledge]], and his value-judgments, based on that knowledge, give him emotions.  Thus, man cannot have emotions without first possessing knowledge; in addition, the extent of his knowledge of something will determine his emotional involvement in it.


For example:  A man sitting in a room is being witnessed by three other men, each with their own knowledge of him.  The first witness knows the man as his brother, and feels ashamed; the second witness does not know the man at all, and therefore feels nothing for him, good or bad; the third witness knows this man as his wife's murderer, and feels rage against him.  They all three have different feelings (based on their individual value-judgements), yet they are judging the same man.
For example:  A man sitting in a room is being witnessed by three other men, each with their own knowledge of him.  The first witness knows the man as his brother, and feels ashamed; the second witness does not know the man at all, and therefore feels nothing for him, good or bad; the third witness knows this man as his wife's murderer, and feels rage against him.  They all three have different feelings (based on their individual value-judgments), yet they are judging the same man.


Every emotion has a cause, and it is the responsibility of the rational mind to explore any emotion that is unaccounted for, and check its validity against the facts of reality.
Every emotion has a cause, and it is the responsibility of the rational mind to explore any emotion that is unaccounted for, and check its validity against the facts of reality.
==Further Reading==
*[http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/emotions.html "Emotions" on the Ayn Rand Lexicon]
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Latest revision as of 20:35, 27 August 2010

Emotions are a response to your value-judgments of a particular object, person, event, etc.; and in order for man to have a legitimate value-judgment of something he must first know something about it. Reason gives him knowledge, and his value-judgments, based on that knowledge, give him emotions. Thus, man cannot have emotions without first possessing knowledge; in addition, the extent of his knowledge of something will determine his emotional involvement in it.

For example: A man sitting in a room is being witnessed by three other men, each with their own knowledge of him. The first witness knows the man as his brother, and feels ashamed; the second witness does not know the man at all, and therefore feels nothing for him, good or bad; the third witness knows this man as his wife's murderer, and feels rage against him. They all three have different feelings (based on their individual value-judgments), yet they are judging the same man.

Every emotion has a cause, and it is the responsibility of the rational mind to explore any emotion that is unaccounted for, and check its validity against the facts of reality.

Further Reading

Epistemology Topics
Senses | Consciousness | Volition | Concepts: Unit, Concept-Formation
Objectivity | Knowledge: Context, Hierarchy | Reason: Certainty, Truth, the Arbitrary | Emotions