Posted by madeline on May 17, 2006, at 21:40:39
In reply to opinion survey, posted by Estella on May 17, 2006, at 20:14:02
> three questions...
> (> 1. do animals (dogs, cats, rats etc) have emotions? how about human infants?I think both animals and human infants have emotions.
> 2. of the following factors:
> -body changes (racing heart etc)
> -cognition / judgment / belief / apppraisal (that is dangerous etc)
> -phenomenology / the felt quality / the experiential aspect / what it is like (how happiness feels)
>
> which seems to be most central to emotion?
I lean toward the body changes as necessary and sufficient for emotion. For instance, mitral valve prolapse in the heart mimics anxiety and panic. Morphine induces euphoria. Beta-blockers reduce anxiety, not due to any action in the brain, but by blocking the peripheral response.
> 3. are unconscious emotions possible?I would definately say that unconcious emotion is not only possible, but likely. In reality, I think all emotion is pre-conscious. We don't make a conscious decision to be mad, but we get mad nonetheless.
>
> this is much debated. freud thought that while emotion had to be consciously experienced (by the way he defined emotion) the causes of emotion (what made you mad, who you are mad at) might be repressed / unconscious. does this seem right... or would it be possible to be mad (say) without any conscious experience (phenomenology / felt quality) at all?
>
> i'm interested in what people think because philosophers intuitions tend to go all funny when they are in the grip of a theory. (they tend to lose their 'common sense' and their intuitions can be rather odd and not really shared by the rest of the linguistic community)
>
> thanks.
poster:madeline
thread:645293
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060513/msgs/645321.html