To understand via the heart is not to understand. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

The heart has its reasons whereof reason knows nothing. Blaise Pascal

No one is truly literate who cannot read his own heart.Eric Hoffer

Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man who has rationalised his emotions. David Borenstein

Depend on it Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. Samuel Johnson

Anger is never without reason, but seldom a good one. Benjamin Franklin

The mind leads, the emotions follow. Ayn Rand

People who are sensible about love, are not capable of it.Douglas Yates

Do you agree with any of these statements?

‘No aspect of our mental life is more important to the quality and meaning of our existence than our emotions. They are what make life worth living or ending.’

Brainstorm in your TOK journals all the emotions that you can think of…… Are there any emotions with identical

meanings? Are there any emotions that you have listed

that have subtle differences? If so do these differences exist in other languages?

Can you think of words for emotions in other languages that don’t exist in English?

Does our inability or ability to describe different emotions affect the way we perceive them?

Love Hate Fear Lust Anger Embarrassment Shame Sadness Epiphany Jealousy Frustration Amazement Wonder

Think about which are the most prominent in your life.

Compare your list of 6 with these from 3different sources: Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise

anddisgust. Van de Lagemat

Pleasure, anger, sorrow, joy, love and hate. Korean philosopher, T’oegye

Fondness, dislike, delight, anger, sadness and joy. Chinese philosopher, Tzu.

Which emotions are common to the ones you chose?

Which emotions are common to all 3? Are there any that you think are

missing? Which do you agree as a class should be

classified as the 6 primary emotions? Thinking about your IB subjects are

some emotions more important in some subjects compared to others?

What is your definition of emotion? My definition as a Biologist:

Emotion provides us with personal experiences (knowledge) it is a type of reaction enhanced by chemical and electrical activity and recognised as information in the brain.

James and Lange do NOT accept the following sequence: I see the exam paper, I get scared and then my heart rate increases and my mouth becomes dry.

They accept the following: I see the exam paper, my heart rate increase and my mouth feels dry and then I get scared.

They are saying that emotions are feelings that come about following physiological changes in the body. Emotions do not being about physiological change, physiological changes bring about emotions which are feelings interpreted by the brain.

(James) My theory ... is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion. Common sense says, … we meet a bear, are frightened and run… The hypothesis here to be defended says that this order of sequence is incorrect ... and that the more rational statement is that we feel … afraid because we tremble ... Without the bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form, pale, colorless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run … but we should not actually feel afraid …

(James) My theory ... is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion. Common sense says, … we meet a bear, are frightened and run… The hypothesis here to be defended says that this order of sequence is incorrect ... and that the more rational statement is that we feel … afraid because we tremble ... Without the bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form, pale, colorless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run … but we should not actually feel afraid …

If the physical response from stimuli could be removed then we could remove the emotion. Do you accept this?

Do you agree with this for ALL emotions?

Do emotions actually only exist because of the physical effect they have on your body?

How are you feeling right now? How do you know? Why do you think you are feeling this

way? Face your partner and try to guess how

they are feeling. How do you know? Does knowing our own feelings depend

on knowing something about others feelings?

‘Emotion has the advantage of being open to all, the weak and the lowly, the illiterate and the scholar. It is seen to be as effective as any other method of knowing and sometimes said to be stronger than the others since the emotion is its own final result’Bhagavad Gita