The Essentiality of Feelings in Relation to Emotions For most people, the words “feeling” and “emotion” have virtually no difference, but ask someone who specializes in philosophy, and more specifically, who specializes in the study of human emotion, and you’ll get a variety of answers, ranging from the stance that the body’s reactions are what causes emotions to the stance that emotions are simply impulses. Having thoroughly studied several different emotional theories, I believe that, first and most importantly, that feelings and emotions are separate entities and that feelings are not the essential element to emotions. In fact, I believe that the objects of the emotion, both material and formal, are the critically essential components,
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Having extensively studied Aristotle, medieval philosophy, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Kenny’s background in philosophical logic was heavily influenced by the theories and schools of thought before him. And indeed, according to the text, “these influences are clearly represented in the following discussion of ‘intentional objects,’ in which [Kenny] tries to make clear the nature of intentionality and the peculiar nature of the ‘objects’ to which emotions are ‘directed,’” (217). According to Kenny, for one to experience an emotion, one has to have a “material object” to which the emotion is directed and the object must have properties — Kenny calls these properties the “formal object” — necessarily in order for the emotion to make …show more content…
For animals, absolutely not. Animals, in my opinion, don’t have the complex cognitive ability to form beliefs about objects, therefore, they are unable to truly experience Kenny’s idea of conscious emotion. Babies, however, are a different matter. Kenny, in his book “Aquinas on the Mind,” mentions the idea of a tabula rasa, seemingly upholding the idea of a “blank slate” mind when one is born. So, if babies are truly blank upon birth, then their first experiences are what creates the foundational beliefs that will affect their emotional state for the rest of their lives. Evidence for this is found in people’s phobias, considered to be “irrational” fears, but which are often caused by childhood trauma that can no longer be
Having extensively studied Aristotle, medieval philosophy, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Kenny’s background in philosophical logic was heavily influenced by the theories and schools of thought before him. And indeed, according to the text, “these influences are clearly represented in the following discussion of ‘intentional objects,’ in which [Kenny] tries to make clear the nature of intentionality and the peculiar nature of the ‘objects’ to which emotions are ‘directed,’” (217). According to Kenny, for one to experience an emotion, one has to have a “material object” to which the emotion is directed and the object must have properties — Kenny calls these properties the “formal object” — necessarily in order for the emotion to make …show more content…
For animals, absolutely not. Animals, in my opinion, don’t have the complex cognitive ability to form beliefs about objects, therefore, they are unable to truly experience Kenny’s idea of conscious emotion. Babies, however, are a different matter. Kenny, in his book “Aquinas on the Mind,” mentions the idea of a tabula rasa, seemingly upholding the idea of a “blank slate” mind when one is born. So, if babies are truly blank upon birth, then their first experiences are what creates the foundational beliefs that will affect their emotional state for the rest of their lives. Evidence for this is found in people’s phobias, considered to be “irrational” fears, but which are often caused by childhood trauma that can no longer be