Emotion: A Short Introduction

 

Photo by Peter Conlan on Unsplash

It is somewhat paradoxical that emotion is one of the most beloved and one of the most underappreciated aspects of our nature. In popular culture emotion is appealed to in order to move us to action. Churches often foster an environment where emotion motivates you to repent or worship. Advertisements leverage emotion in order to move you buy something. Popular talent shows explicitly tell their singing contestants that their emotional involvement in the performance is as important if not more important than technical accuracy.

However, while popular culture regularly encourages us to have emotions and follow our passions, it doesn’t do much to help us understand what emotions are or how they are appropriately employed. We rarely hear questions like: What are emotions? Are emotional responses morally praiseworthy or blameworthy? Do emotions hinder reason? How do we become emotionally mature? Should we repress our emotions? What role do emotions play in the formation of moral beliefs?

Until we start looking at questions like this, our understanding of emotion will remain superficial. And a superficial understanding of our selves inevitably leads to practical problems.

Aristotle's Lasting Influcence

 

In his book Process and Reality, philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” To be sure, the west is indebted to Plato for his momentous intellectual achievements. But the western emphasis on systematic empirical observation and interpretation comes from Plato’s disciple. Like the brilliant Sir Isaac Newton, Plato’s student Aristotle didn’t just learn various disciplines, he created them. Aristotle invented the disciplines of logic, biology, and ethics and he was considered the expert on these topics well into the middle ages.

Aristotle was born in Stagira Macedonia in 384 BC and was sent to Plato’s academy in Athens around the age of seventeen. After the death of Plato, Aristotle went to Assos for roughly 3 years and then moved again to the island of Lesbos. During this period, it is thought that Aristotle developed biology, with a focus on marine biology. His biological notes were so detailed that some of his observations were not confirmed until the development of higher-powered magnification. In 343 BC the king of Macedon asked Aristotle to tutor his son. Thus, Aristotle became the tutor of one of the most famous men in the ancient world – Alexander the Great.