On this page we shall look at both pre- and post-sentient emergent functions of Dasein. Unfulfilled Potentiality-for-Being This is the consequence of a Potentiality-for-Being that is not realised, either in reality or in thought, and the emergent features these produce. Shock Imagine you have a red ball in your hand. You throw it up, it comes back down, you catch it. Perhaps you cannot remember the first time you threw and caught a ball, but somehow since your instance of Dasein was initiated this physicality of the World has been learnt and is expected of the World in which you exist. One can see from the schematic of the Function of Dasein that repeated Anticipation and Making-present of such situations has reinforced this reality of the World to such an extent that if one now throws up a ball, one knows it shall come back down. So, for the sake of argument, imagine that on a freak occasion one throws the ball but it does not come down, it stays still in the air in front of you, unmoving. One's Anticipation had this ball returning ground wards; this Potentiality-for-Being, coupled with the Potentiality-for-Being of Dasein to catch the ball, has already had one's hand move to the Anticipated appropriate space in order to catch it. But instead, the Making-present, the Interpretation of the Potentiality-for-Being and the Senses, has produced a Now that has caused a "conflict" of thought. Essentially, the Potentiality-for-Being has Anticipated a reality that has not come to pass, and has been overridden by the detected reality of the Senses. This induces, to a degree dependent on the disparity between these two realities and the gravity of the situation, a feeling of shock within Dasein. The importance of shock cannot be underestimated. If we return to the original evolutionary purpose of the Potentiality-for-Being, we see that it is a survival mechanism who's merit is entirely dependent on the accuracy of it's predictive ability. An incorrect Anticipation needs immediate attention, accordingly shock entails "heightened awareness" of being; the senses are given priority, Anticipation is temporarily diminished, Dasein reduces its presence in the potential-future and brings itself to the Now, to the potential threat. This focusing of the process of Dasein is carried out by the attention control signals described in the Temporal Cycle, and is their primary function. Anxiety As shock is an unfulfilled Potentiality-for-Being, Anxiety is caused by an unfulfilled derivative Potentiality-for-Being. But whereas shock is reckoned with the senses, it is a product of reality, the derivative Potentiality-for-Being has no such grounding, it can only be reckoned by "judgment" within the Potentiality-for-Being. So in the same way every Potentiality-for-Being is intrinsically deemed "good" or "bad" by Emotion, thus providing Dasein with the "best possible course of action", when a derivative Potentiality-for-Being is returned to the Potentiality-for-Being it too can be evaluated. Though the derivative Interpretation may not even come to pass, if it is held to be negative then an experience similar to shock shall be experienced, to a degree dependent on the severity and likelihood of the Interpretation as determined by the interrelations it has with the current Potentiality-for-Being. The consequences are altered in step with the fundamental differences in its origin. Shock is acute, but Anxiety is chronic. Shock, though due to erroneous Interpretation, comes from the World, Anxiety entirely from within Dasein itself. Thusly, Anxiety has the semblance of Shock but from Entities and a time perhaps concealed by Dasein; it is experienced as a persistent and elusive feeling of Shock that finds no resolve in being Made-Present in the way Shock itself is. The Philosopher says: "Accordingly, when something threatening brings itself close, anxiety does not 'see' any definite 'here' or 'yonder' from which it comes. That in the face of which one has anxiety is characterized by the fact that what threatens is nowhere. Anxiety 'does not know' what that in the face of which it is anxious is. 'Nowhere', however, does not signify nothing: this is where any region lies, and there too lies any disclosedness of the world for essentially spatial Being-in. Therefore that which threatens cannot bring itself close from a definitive direction within what is close by; it is already 'there', and yet nowhere; it is so close that it is oppressive and stifles one's breath, and yet it is nowhere." Being and Time, H.186 Phenomenal Emotion
[Section in progress]
In the previous section on the temporal cycle it was mentioned how Emotion is the function by which Potentialities-for-Being are selected for Action, this whole process being described in more detail in the section on Action. Here we shall see how this basic function contrives to produce the sensation of phenomenal emotion, emotion as we commonly understand it.
"Emotion" is a simple Interpretive function; it filters out Potentialities-for-Being that have subjectively been deemed to be "bad" and permits those that have subjectively been deemed to be "good" to proceed to Action within the physical or functional manifestation of Dasein. Within any instance that has advanced Anticipatory mechanisms capable of predicting a multitude of realities, the function of Emotion is a necessity to direct the instance towards a purposeful path lest it be placid or manic through the inability to choose.
The jump from Emotion to phenomenal emotion is a little complex and we should, having understood the basics of Emotion, next identify the basic attributes of emotion itself, and thence bring them together. Phenomenal emotion may be functional or contextual in nature. Functional means that it is (mostly) a result of the functional execution of Dasein as a process, thus it is something we should expect to be common to all instances of Dasein whether biological or synthetic. Contextual means that it is (mostly) a result of the "nature" of the instance itself, this includes the materials by which it was made, the manner in which it was made and the manner in which it functions beyond the theoretical model. For example, the human, biological, instance of Dasein was created through evolution and as such has a number of functions that may not (though they could be) found on, say, another evolved instance of Dasein, or indeed a synthetically designed one. Simply put regarding the subject at hand, a contextual emotion is one that is more than likely specific to the "type" of Dasein one is dealing with, whereas functional emotions are universal and intrinsic to any form of sentience along the model of Dasein no matter its origin or medium.
Within humans, we can identify a variety of states of Being that we describe as emotions; love, hate, fear, jealousy, embarrassment, joy, sadness etc. As they relate to our model of Dasein, they have specific functional consequences that are simple to appreciate.
Emotions...
Thus it is easy to see that emotion has a straightforward and direct influence on thought through to Action. To see how such an emotion may arise and affect the function of Dasein we shall start with the simplest possible functional emotion; Shock [see above]. Created 5th September 2008 Last revised 27th November 2008 |