WOK: Emotion

From the IB TOK Guide:

"Are emotions universal? Can/should we control our emotions? Are emotions the enemy of, or necessary for, good reasoning? Are emotions always linked to belief? 

The naturalistic view of emotions is that they are the products of natural processes, with physiological causes and effects. One supporter of this view was Darwin, who believed that emotions are purely physiological and therefore universal and experienced across all cultures. However, there seem to be many examples of culturally bound emotions, for example, the Chinese notion of “sad love”. The opposite view is therefore that of the social constructionists, who argue that emotions depend on a social consciousness, and have no natural basis at all. For example, emotions such as shame seem to presuppose a notion of right and wrong. 

Emotion has sometimes been regarded as an unreliable way of knowing. Emotions have, for example, been criticized as being irrational obstacles to knowledge that distort our picture of reality. However, others believe that not only do emotions help make sense of social and cultural experiences and behaviours, but they are also the source of social, ethical and political knowledge by helping us form an understanding of the world around us. "

Some Further Observations:

There are two important views of emotion that tend to come up in ToK. One is called the naturalistic view of emotion. This view tells us that emotion is a result of our physical bodies, with physical causes and effects. Charles Darwin was one supporter of this view. One interesting implication of the naturalistic view is that emotions are seen as universal and experienced across cultures. The opposite view to this is that of social constructionists. These guys argue that emotions are socially constructed. This would mean that emotions come from our social environment. The social constructionists might point at to an emotion like shame and say that, shame is an emotion based on social ideas of what is right and what is wrong. Without society telling you what actions were ‘wrong’ you might never feel shame. One question you might consider is whether emotion is a help or a hindrance when it comes to gaining knowledge. You could argue that emotion is a problem when seeking knowledge. For example, you might argue that emotion hinders rational thought and thus distorts reality. However, someone might disagree with you. Somebody could tell you, for example, that without emotions it is difficult to make sense of cultural and social experiences- how can anyone truly understand love, without understanding emotions. People with autism often struggle to understand social situations and to know what it is other people feel. What does this say about the universality of emotions?