What is anger?

[Lark_Truth]

Here's my definition of anger. See what you guys think:

The power that is an extension of sorrow, love, pride, fear, and sometimes hatred; it is a person’s way of saying “You hurt me.” When in anger, people are always stronger, faster, with quicker reactions, but with very little reasoning and self-control. This power can be used for both good and ill, and it is often difficult to control. There are two forms to this power [...] the weaker is called “wrath” which is let out for every little thing. It lashes out like a whip to punish others. Those who use wrath are often very bitter about their lives, and are often (without realizing it) seeking to let others taste of their misery. The stronger form of the Power of Anger is called “rage” though is oftentimes known as “fury.” A person who utilizes rage only does so when there is a significant amount of provocation. They prefer to use their other abilities to maneuver themselves out of a situation, relying on their reasoning skills to think their way out. When they have been put under extreme pressure and emotional stimuli, only then will they release their rage and it is woe to all they punish. More extreme outbursts of rage are often very destructive. Certainly, a power to beware.

If you have any questions, please ask.

I would also appreciate it if you guys would upload and read my recently published novella (which incidentally is about anger) and give me a review on it. It's on Amazon Kindle as an ebook and is very cheep. Thank you!

[Hereandnow]

Lark_Truth

If you have any questions, please ask.

Wrath, rage, fury?? The question in my mind is, are you endorsing these? Granted, anger can lead to stronger, quicker reactions, as you say. But the purely descriptive account leaves out critical judgment. Is anger to be appreciated, endorsed, recommended?

And the part about rage leading to people "relying on their reasoning skills to think their way out" sounds way off the mark.

[Socrateaze]

Anger is good; it helps us release the hurt instead of keeping it inside. However, I don't think being angry all the time is a good thing, nor is it good to hold a grudge, being angry with certain people for a long time. Keeping people at a distance that hurt you is different from holding a grudge, as we know. But without anger I would go so far as to say, we would even live shorter lives, because there would be no way to vent our frustrations. In fact, I think there has even be some scientific proof on age vs. anger.

[Hereandnow]

"anger is good"

Useful, granted Soctrateaze, but not good in the moral sense. One could say that hepatitis is useful for Chinese officials worried about population control, and they would be right. It would be contingently good, that is, good in context, good in a setting of relative terms. But systems of relativity all beg the moral question: is it good in itself?

[Socrateaze]

"anger is good"

Useful, granted Soctrateaze, but not good in the moral sense. One could say that hepatitis is useful for Chinese officials worried about population control, and they would be right. It would be contingently good, that is, good in context, good in a setting of relative terms. But systems of relativity all beg the moral question: is it good in itself?

It depends on what you do when you get angry.

[Hereandnow]

By my lights, it depends on what anger is as a presence in the thoughts and feelings. Very different from, say, being in love. Both have to be prudently handled, but what, if you will, IS: love, hate, resentment, "delicious," "disgusting" and all the moods and states of minds you can think of? There is clearly a division in their "presence" quite apart from the actions that may follow from them in actual circumstances. These latter are bound up in a world that obscures their nature, and one can come to regard all equally, according to the dictates of a given utility value. This is what is suggested repeatedly by other posts. I, on the other hand, want to look at these states of mind themselves. What they are in themselves.

The divide is ineluctable. It is what separates moral good from evil.

[Synthesis]

Anger is a manifestation of attachment. For example, you like something and eventually [like all things] it goes away. You are angry at its loss and this becomes "bad" karma. At some point in the future, a trigger occurs [something or somebody] and these feelings re-emerge.

As it has been said forever, "We all own our own anger."

[wanabe]

What is the job of a philosopher? It is to address the hard questions that confront us all – is it not? To know thyself. It is not an easy task. If we have the courage to walk down this path – do we find ourselves? Maybe – maybe not – each of us will be the judge as to what we find. I implore you to have courage and be a philosopher. Look at this thread and show me the error of my ways. Or, better yet, show me the error of your ways:

To talk about whatever they care about. That can mean answering questions or not. Knowing your self, not like anyone else knows you better, so you have it easier than anyone else trying to know you. You can find your self whenever you like what you find.

What is anger?
Anger is something we all have – right? What is it? It seems like it is an emotion that gets linked to another emotion or thought or behavior or situation or combination of the above.
How does it come about and why?
What does it do to us?
How does it define us?
Is it bad?
Is it useful?
Is anger justified?
Does it have a good function?
Do you see it around here?
What does anger show you about yourself?
What do you think about angry people?
Is anger about insecurity?
What motivates us to anger?
Can we control anger?

Anger is the absence of joy, ecstasy. Like any emotion it compounds it self. Emotions come about because, that's how humans are, physically, physiologically, psychologically.

We are emotional creatures. We have emotions because we are a highly social species and emotions help us to communicate, even if it doesn't feel helpful in the moment.

Things don't define us, we define ourselves. Do things that make you happy if you don't want to be angry.

[Woodart]

There are different types of anger and it seems to exist on a continuum. If I get angry at my messy kids or traffic or waiting in line at the grocery store – that is usually a trivial type of anger. If someone hits my car on the highway – I am going to be angrier. If someone deliberately hits my car repeatedly and tries to kill me – my anger is heading towards the top of the scale.

There are also different classes of anger. I can have anger about political circumstance or economic issues; or I may be angry about social or spiritual or intellectual concerns. Anger exists in just about every aspects of the human endeavor. I can be angry at God – or I can be angry there is no God. We can get angry for real reasons or imagined reasons. My hallucinations and psychotic thinking can make me angry – and – it might drive you to fury. Anger comes in a lot of shapes and sizes.

I must say I have an intense anger at all humanity. Just now I am watching Ken Burns – The West documentary on Netflix. I can hardly believe the horror show the expansion of the west brought. The cruelty is off the charts – I was not aware. I certainly did not learn anything like this story in any history class I took in school – which was a total whitewash. The way human beings have abused others throughout all human history is atrocious – really ugly. Things are pretty ugly right now in a lot of the world. I am angry about all the inequity which is abundant – everywhere.

We have not as a species learned lessons from history – warfare – genocide – racism – economic and environmental exploitation. We are making all the same mistakes we have made throughout history – we have learned nothing! Women are not equal to men in the world today. Things have changed a “little” bit recently – but – not much. Why do we hold women down? What is the advantage of doing so? I don’t see it – I don’t get the payoff for keeping women down?

I think a big reason- why - is organized religion. Organized religion is dumb. It is full of dumb stories and admonitions. One of my favorites is Passover. It was not until I was an adult that I realized the significance of the story. The Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses told all Jews to put Lambs blood on their doorposts and God delivered the 10th plague to the Egyptians and killed all firstborn. So, every year we celebrate God killing all firstborn Egyptian babies and Passing Over all Jews. What a nice story – what a nice God!

No wonder we have not progressed as a species. We have never learned to control our anger. We have never learned to control our appetite. As a consequence we have failed to learn from our own history. We make the same mistakes again and again - generation after generation.

I think we have a chance to really progress as a species if we make women equal to men. It is not a guarantee but I think it is our last best hope. If we truly honor women, I think there is a chance we can begin to honor us all. We have a job as philosophers to help us all - “see things” – we shall see how good of a job we do.

[wanabe]

There's anger about different things sure, those aren't different kinds of anger though. This continuum you see is something you're creating for yourself, granted we all do this. It's ultimately all anger though. In the modern world anger is not helpful for solving problems. That takes a level head. You control anger by being loving. Anything else falls short of solving issues anger causes.

Ultimately this desire to define things creates "others." We can't be equal if there are "others."

As for all the history stuff.

I think people learned that it stinks being on the receiving end of genocide, so the simple way people choose to avoid that is to go out and commit genocide. That's what we learned from history. That's what all dominant institutions proliferate in some form.

In more recent times a growing few are able to see the enormous problems this is causing.

[Burning ghost]

Woodart -

I don't think there are many different types of "anger". Anger is anger, but there are different circumstances you've listed above that make us angry.

Men and women are not equal. My encounters with feminism is hit and miss.

[Socrateaze]

By my lights, it depends on what anger is as a presence in the thoughts and feelings. Very different from, say, being in love. Both have to be prudently handled, but what, if you will, IS: love, hate, resentment, "delicious," "disgusting" and all the moods and states of minds you can think of? There is clearly a division in their "presence" quite apart from the actions that may follow from them in actual circumstances. These latter are bound up in a world that obscures their nature, and one can come to regard all equally, according to the dictates of a given utility value. This is what is suggested repeatedly by other posts. I, on the other hand, want to look at these states of mind themselves. What they are in themselves.

The divide is ineluctable. It is what separates moral good from evil.

Isn't anger much like the function of pain? We have a nervous system to warn us not to keep our hands in the fire. We have anger to cuss when we burn and relieve the pain. Anger is a defense mechanism. It is not good or evil; what we do when we get angry is good or evil. Our reactions are based on something, which is already in our character. Moreover, let's not confuse anger with it's cousins, the grudge and vengeance. One can be perfectly evil without being angry at all. Good people get angry too, but they do not bash someone's head in for it. Like I say, it's what is already inside you.

Contrary you might compare anger to sadness. Is sadness good or evil? No, because they are both emotions, but they may evoke evil deeds, based on, again, the person's pre-existing character.

-- Updated August 21st, 2017, 5:33 am to add the following --

Hi, Woodart,

I think a big reason- why - is organized religion. Organized religion is dumb. It is full of dumb stories and admonitions. One of my favorites is Passover. It was not until I was an adult that I realized the significance of the story. The Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses told all Jews to put Lambs blood on their doorposts and God delivered the 10th plague to the Egyptians and killed all firstborn. So, every year we celebrate God killing all firstborn Egyptian babies and Passing Over all Jews. What a nice story – what a nice God!

No wonder we have not progressed as a species. We have never learned to control our anger. We have never learned to control our appetite. As a consequence we have failed to learn from our own history. We make the same mistakes again and again - generation after generation.

Do you think "God" was angry when he sent the ten plagues? I'm not much of a God fellow, but do you not think we can sometimes, even as people, do things that are horrible without feeling angry? In other words, is spite not worse than anger?

[Woodart]

Socrateaze wrote:
Do you think "God" was angry when he sent the ten plagues? I'm not much of a God fellow, but do you not think we can sometimes, even as people, do things that are horrible without feeling angry? In other words, is spite not worse than anger?

I think all biblical stories are anthropomorphism. It is bunk – and – it has led us astray. If you do something terrible and you feel no guilt – you are a psychopath – and – they do exist. Our anger can escalate to rage – revenge – spite – atrocity and beyond. Then we can use biblical stories to justify our behavior. I think it is great what we are doing in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. I think we should nuke North Korea and wipe them off the planet. Good idea – that will solve our problems - right?

[Socrateaze]

Socrateaze wrote:
Do you think "God" was angry when he sent the ten plagues? I'm not much of a God fellow, but do you not think we can sometimes, even as people, do things that are horrible without feeling angry? In other words, is spite not worse than anger?

I think all biblical stories are anthropomorphism. It is bunk – and – it has led us astray. If you do something terrible and you feel no guilt – you are a psychopath – and – they do exist. Our anger can escalate to rage – revenge – spite – atrocity and beyond. Then we can use biblical stories to justify our behavior. I think it is great what we are doing in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. I think we should nuke North Korea and wipe them off the planet. Good idea – that will solve our problems - right?

Yes, religion is BS.

Have you ever done something bad to someone, without being angry? I don't think we're angry when we're spiteful. In spite you can achieve more than you would through irrational anger. You can achieve even more if you approach it from a clinical. mundane attitude.

The man that you described in your example, running you off the road and continuously crashes into you might have been angry. He may also be spiteful. Some people get an adrenaline rush from doing bad or reckless things and may be far from angry. I also don't think you would be angry if someone crashed into you continuously, especially if they're about to knock you off a bridge. I think you will be more terrified than angry - or at least I would.

When I want to take revenge, I am not angry. There are many things woven into the tapestry of anger, with anger being the central point. However, the further you move away from that point, the less it has to do with anger. I have achieved more in spite, with no feeling of anger at all, than being angry and end up doing something stupid. Perhaps this is also why anger equals manslaughter in the first degree, while revenge on the other hand qualifies as premeditated murder. When I take revenge, I am not angry, I am "thirsty."

[Woodart]

Socrateaze wrote:
When I want to take revenge, I am not angry. There are many things woven into the tapestry of anger, with anger being the central point. However, the further you move away from that point, the less it has to do with anger. I have achieved more in spite, with no feeling of anger at all, than being angry and end up doing something stupid. Perhaps this is also why anger equals manslaughter in the first degree, while revenge on the other hand qualifies as premeditated murder. When I take revenge, I am not angry, I am "thirsty."

I think what you are describing is in all of us. We all have the capacity to be psychopaths. We lose our legs of morality – for a time – and - we do weird ****. I find most people, in general, to be intellectual cowards on most philosophical subjects. I find many philosophers to be cowardly on a great many philosophical subjects. What I observe is many philosophers just don’t talk about certain subjects. Not that they can’t – they just don’t. We segregate our thinking – compartmentalizing. You may call it preference or being a specialist – I call it cowardly. Especially when the subject has to do with the continuation of the humane species – war – genocide – slavery – pollution – sexism - racism.

You know what I like about anger – it makes me passionate. When my blood boils over an idea – I feel alive – I feel I have touched a chord in my soul. I want to feel my hands wringing and my heart pounding. I want the feeling of striving to know me – I get “thirsty” – as you say. I find most philosophers seek comfort – most all people do – I do. I am a coward. Why have we not achieved a peaceful – righteous – harmonious society on Earth? I think a lot of the blame has to be laid at the feet of philosophers. Something is wrong with us – what is it – we don’t display enough courage - what do you think?