Philosophy Now Forum

Could it be anger (side question: is anger the same as hate?) Would we have less conflict without it?
How about love? Does it promote too much sex? How about jealousy? Is it a form of anger or some type of love?
Also is emotion exclusive to humans?

PhilX

This one

¯\_ツ_/¯

Philosophy Explorer wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2017 5:25 am Could it be anger (side question: is anger the same as hate?) Would we have less conflict without it?
How about love? Does it promote too much sex? How about jealousy? Is it a form of anger or some type of love?
Also is emotion exclusive to humans?

PhilX

PhilX, I am surprised at you for asking such an easy question i.e. which emotion is the most important? Or is it a trick question, not at all as easy as it appears on first pass? Does this question launch an endless enquiry into philosophy, an exploration as it were? I think it does.

Of course, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I am claimlng to have the answer to the question. I’ll circle back to that later.

PhilX, you scoundrel! You have posed several harmless-appearing follow-on questions that deviously bring to mind a whole slew of related questions. There are many more, I’m certain, but a few come to mind right off.

What is an emotion? What are the emotions a person can have? What is the purpose of an emotion? What makes an emotion important? What happens as a result of emotions?

As for the answer to the question, I have it (surprise)! No, really, it’s surprise; surprise is the most essential emotion, and here’s why:

Nothing is more important for any species than the propagation of the species itself (debatable). Avoidance of pain and affinity for pleasure are essential to the survival of the species. Avoiding pain and all that goes with it is by far more crucial than achieving pleasure (also debatable). Pleasure leads to procreation, but one must avoid the pain of being stabbed to death by a very unhappy fellow named Waldo in order to remain alive long enough to procreate.

(BTW, there cannot be such a thing as too much sex.)

Emotions motivate adaptive and maladaptive behaviors. Adaptive behaviors contribute to the survival of a species. Surprise is an emotional response to something or someone that is new, different, wildly unexpected or just plain weird. Surprise can compel fight or flight behaviors. This kind of action is necessary to avoid pain and, by extension, necessary to favor the propagation of a species, the sine qua non for any species (again, debatable).

The gauntlet is thrown. The challenge for anyone now is to agree, argue or shift focus to a related question. I’m waiting, and I’m sure PhilX is waiting, too.

Fear is the most survival promoting emotion.
It is a component of many other emotions.

E-motion is a very strong feeling that puts you in motion.
Surprise, amazement, supefaction don´t put anyone in motion, they prevent motion.
Surprise is a subtle feeling reserved for species who can afford it, it occurs during leisure activities.

If an antilope stopped in amazement because a lion with a pink mane showed up ...

duszek wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:30 am Fear is the most survival promoting emotion.
It is a component of many other emotions.

E-motion is a very strong feeling that puts you in motion.
Surprise, amazement, supefaction don´t put anyone in motion, they prevent motion.
Surprise is a subtle feeling reserved for species who can afford it, it occurs during leisure activities.

If an antilope stopped in amazement because a lion with a pink mane showed up ...

Concept: duszek 1 commonsense 1
Vocabulary: duszek 1 commonsense 0


I must concede that your usage of 'surprise' is accurate and consistent with its denotation. Mine is not. Only by connotation can 'surprise' mean 'alarm'. Only in that sense can surprise can push action. In any case, your example of an antelope and a lion illustrate precisely what I intended.



(I am assuming supefaction is a typo.)

Yes, I wanted to type "stupefaction".

So you meant "alarm".

Yes, alarm is better than fear. When you are very afraid you can be paralyzed, when you are in a state of alarm you get an adrenaline shot and move.

Thats difficult to answer since we carry a vast array of emotions. Feelings like love, lust, compassion, hate, disgust, sadness, joy, they aren't the only ones that we experience.

vservices27 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2017 12:37 pm Thats difficult to answer since we carry a vast array of emotions. Feelings like love, lust, compassion, hate, disgust, sadness, joy, they aren't the only ones that we experience.

I agree. There's simply a plethora of emotions experienced by human beings. I imagine that you'd agree with me that all are important in various situations. And in that sense, some are more important than others in a particular situation. One could argue that love is the most important emotion in choosing a mate, or that joy is, or that some other emotion is. Such is the case in the matter of selecting a partner. In the matter of deciding on a career field, or perhaps on a specific job to take, the most important feeling might be a feeling of security, or that of pride in one's work, or fellowship with coworkers.

The question above is not so difficult to answer if we start by considering what situation would be the most important, and then to consider what the most important emotion would be in that situation. duszek and I have picked survival as the most critical situation. Once survival is accepted as the most critical situation, it becomes an easy task to nominate alarm as the most important emotion.

Thanks, vservices27, for your noteworthy insight and for giving me the opportunity to expound on a recent post. I agree that human emotions are myriad. I also think that the most important emotion is discernable once the most important circumstance is identified.