How Are Emotions Made?

[Sculptor1]

Like most traits that we possess, there is no doubt that they have stood the test of survival.
That the human condition as it now stands has fielded all the viccicitudes of changeing envionments, predation, scarcity and we have emerged with a set of emotions that have passed the test.
But that test does not work directly upon ANY paricular trait of behaviour. So to not a single one can it be atributed a specific and indelible function in our surival, because evolution does not select.
Evolution is the result of a selection process in which individuals of species, and their ability to have viable progeny have to pass the test of survival.
But we are not tested for our traits. we are the remains of those whose traits did not fail us.
In this process we carry a vast range of trait and behaviours that have a positive role to our survival, but 99% of traits confver not specific advantage, these traits might even have a negative effect, just so long as they are not negative enough to adversely affect our ability to have viable progeny.
So whilst emotions are likely to benefit us, and we can think of many reasons why specific emotions can be valuable in some curcumstances it does not change the fact that in other circumstances they might be devastating to our survival,

A serial killing might spawn dozens of children from dozens of women were he able to jump from city to city changing his identity and elluding the law. As such the traits he possesses are naturally selective.
This would never have worked in pre-agricultural societies where adherence to the tribe is paramount, and the chance of gettin ghe anonymity necessary to spawn children over a wide area small.
Thus we might argue that such a trait is functional.

Given the fact that for most of human history, the ability to live in small groups provides the best strategy. Is this now redundant in our anonymous cities?

[3017Metaphysician]

@3017Metaphysician
It may be that human beings have differing needs. Often, it seems to me that many people are mainly concerned with the needs at the lower end, or rather that the top one is left out. The basic needs are essential but from my point of view, the need for self-actualization is the one that makes it all worthwhile and Maslow's 'peak experiences are a way of transforming despair into hope.

One aspect of this is that ideas such as nihilism and hope are slightly different from the emotional states.In particular, I know people who hold a philosophy of nihilism but are completely content with their lives. On the other hand, there may be people who try to hold on to the idea of hope in extremely miserable life circumstances.

When I was on an art therapy course, I remember a tutor saying to me that it was not a good idea to try to encourage people to have 'hope'. I was rather surprised because it seems central but I think what he meant was that people may need to face and come to terms with their own despair rather than fleeing from it. Maybe, false clinging to hope and unrealistic goals may be a source for future emotional disappointment. It may involve trying to find some kind of correspondence with concepts which are going to be useful in relation to the experience of emotional states.

Jack!

As it relates to the human condition, just a couple bullet-points to remember/consider:

1. Self-actualization, among other things, is a cognitive theory based upon the intrinsic human need for purpose. The concept of purpose itself, involves feelings. Feelings (including the concept of hope) cannot be completely explained through material means/methods. Hence, we have something beyond the physical that accompanies a particular phenomenon associated with reality. And, ultimate reality involves consciousness and self-awareness, which is logically necessary to sense and feel feelings themselves.

2. You said that some people are "content" with their belief system (nihilism). Being 'content', once again, invokes or involves conscious feelings. Consciousness/self-awareness itself is required for one to be or feel content with a some-thing. That some-thing involves the self or Being. The feeling of being 'content' can't be completely described in material/physical terms other than what's provided for in neuroscience. The cause and affect of feelings are metaphysical qualities (Qualia) of consciousness (Affect Consciousness).

3. Your art therapy I'm sure has been quite revelatory and illuminating. Within the context of one having 'hope', my impression is that the particular tutor you've mentioned would have been remise to simply dichotomize his recommendations to you. In other words it is both good to have hope, as well as self-awareness, about one's own existential angst. The point is not to repress/suppress any feelings, just be aware that you have them. Imagine a life without them... .

[JackDaydream]

@3017Metaphysician
Actually, I was extremely disappointed with the art therapy course which I took and it is the only course I have ever done in my life which I have not completed. I found that the psychodynamic approach was seen as being above all other ways of seeing. I can remember in a few workshops I tried to bring in philosophy and people on the course, including the tutors dismissed it as being all about 'rationalisation'.

As for nihilism, I remember being engaged with someone on a site at the beginning of the year and he was suggesting the idea of 'the creative nothing'. It seemed such a shallow perspective, without much depth. I am aware of existential angst, but as a starting point for deeper exploration of meaning, including the emotional aspects of life, but probably more than that as well.

[3017Metaphysician]

@3017Metaphysician
Actually, I was extremely disappointed with the art therapy course which I took and it is the only course I have ever done in my life which I have not completed. I found that the psychodynamic approach was seen as being above all other ways of seeing. I can remember in a few workshops I tried to bring in philosophy and people on the course, including the tutors dismissed it as being all about 'rationalisation'.

As for nihilism, I remember being engaged with someone on a site at the beginning of the year and he was suggesting the idea of 'the creative nothing'. It seemed such a shallow perspective, without much depth. I am aware of existential angst, but as a starting point for deeper exploration of meaning, including the emotional aspects of life, but probably more than that as well.

...sorry to hear that Jack, what a shame. Just like a good mechanic, good teachers are not so easy to find.

As an aside, and as you alluded, some people are very 'topical' and seemingly 'exist' in a kind of Maslowian lower-level of gratification. Perhaps their needs aren't necessary 'wrong' ; they are simply different. Nonetheless, it seems like all humans have some semblance of 'needs' that are either logically necessary or innate and a priori.

Philosophically, can you explain/describe 'needs' (your OP/emotional wants/needs)?

[JackDaydream]

@3017Metaphysician
I am inclined to think that human needs are variable. The basic physical needs which Maslow' described are probably universal, although it may be possible for people to exist for certain periods of time where the basics are not met. This is a grey area, but I mention this in relation to people who are really surviving in the conditions of homelessness at this time.

It does seem that people may be existing in relation to various forms of need. It is hard to clearly distinguish the physical, emotional and other aspects because they are so interconnected. Also, the term 'gratification' is open to question and interpretation because it seems as if it it is about finding pleasure. It may not be that simple because suffering is something in it's own right.. It could be that pleasure is an antidote to suffering. But, emotions may have significant here because they could be a form of guidance in the basic distinctions between pleasure and suffering within the sensory and conceptual aspects of human existence. It may be relevant to ask where does sensory and conceptual end or take place; because this may be the area in which the spectrum of emotions come into play almost as an independent reality in itself.

[JackDaydream]

@3017metaphysician
I would simply add that it is hard to know the ultimate basis of needs, where they begin and end. It is questionable to what extent they are innate or a priori, and even what this may mean for how human beings defend the importance of needs and emotions. Some may see emotional aspects of existence as relating to the physical and others in relation to the mental. It involves so much ambiguity in thinking.

[3017Metaphysician]

@3017metaphysician
I would simply add that it is hard to know the ultimate basis of needs, where they begin and end. It is questionable to what extent they are innate or a priori, and even what this may mean for how human beings defend the importance of needs and emotions. Some may see emotional aspects of existence as relating to the physical and others in relation to the mental. It involves so much ambiguity in thinking.

...sure. While 'pure reason' is either/or (A or B); living an emotional life is more often than not, both/and (A and B). Actually, the intellect and the Will, is all part of the insoluble mix starting from the primitive limbic system to the other parts of the brain.... .

For fun, you can deconstruct the concept of a need starting with the basics:

NEED:

1.require (something) because it is essential or very important.

"I need help now" ·
[more]

synonyms:

require · be in need of · stand in need of · have need of · want ·
[more]



2.expressing necessity or obligation.

"need I say more?" ·
[more]

synonyms:

have to · be under an obligation to · be obliged to · be compelled to · be under a compulsion to · have need to
3.
archaic

be necessary.

"lest you, even more than needs, embitter our parting"


NOUN

1.circumstances in which something is necessary, or that require some course of action; necessity.

"the basic human need for food" ·
[more]

synonyms:

necessity · obligation · requirement · call · demand · exigency

2.
(needs)

a thing that is wanted or required.

"his day-to-day needs"

synonyms:

requirement · essential · necessity · want · requisite · prerequisite · wish · demand · desideratum

3.the state of requiring help, or of lacking basic necessities such as food.

"help us in our hour of need" ·
[more]

synonyms:

neediness · want · poverty · deprivation · privation · hardship · penury ·
[more]




Philosophical question: In the context of the human condition (Existential angst), are needs in themselves, logically necessary for conscious existence (a priori) to the extent that without them, they can't provide for any sense of human purpose? And can needs ever be fully gratified? Cognitive science would say 'no' to the latter, but what say you Jack to the former?

And lastly, are all needs 'emotional needs'?

[JackDaydream]

@3017Metaphysician
Part of the problem may be that it is human beings who decide and declare what their own needs are. This applies to needs for friendship and even needs such as transport to meet friends. It may also be hard to distinguish emotional needs from others, including basic support. It may be that even the basics of existential needs are interconnected with social aspects of life. I wonder to what extent emotions are aspects of human relationships or does human need and emotions go beyond this ? I wonder to what extent gratification of need is an individual or social pursuit, and does emotion connect to trying to understand the individual connection with relationships with all aspects of life beyond oneself?

[JackDaydream]

@Sculptor1

Life may have changed so much for many people, especially in anonymous cities. I would say that most of the time I feel anonymous when I am living and going about daily life. This may have big repercussions for emotional life, which may have been about connections and it may be changing the emotional life of many people in a big way as we become more isolated and alone, rather than being valued within communities.

[JackDaydream]

@3017Metaphysician
I have been been thinking how existential angst is related to fear, which is such a strong emotion and concept for many people. In many ways,it may often be a source of many other 'negative' emotions and hatred.

You asked about whether all needs are emotions and it is likely that the need for sleep, shelter, food and drink are more biological but they do have emotional aspects as well. All of these have such strong associations with memories. All sensory experiences are linked to emotions and that may be why gratification plays such a strong force because the senses give rise to desires and the search for pleasures.

[3017Metaphysician]

@3017Metaphysician
I have been been thinking how existential angst is related to fear, which is such a strong emotion and concept for many people. In many ways,it may often be a source of many other 'negative' emotions and hatred.

You asked about whether all needs are emotions and it is likely that the need for sleep, shelter, food and drink are more biological but they do have emotional aspects as well. All of these have such strong associations with memories. All sensory experiences are linked to emotions and that may be why gratification plays such a strong force because the senses give rise to desires and the search for pleasures.

Consider philosophical Emotivism (...sentences do not express propositions but emotional attitudes). And consider that even a sensation or feeling of satisfaction is realized after eating such a satisfying meal. And then consider phrases like 'I'm feeling tired', or I feel safe that I am 'under shelter'. Are those still feelings in-themselves?

With regard to the former (Existential angst), remember that Unity of Opposites is at work there: That true and positive meaning of the antinomies is this: that every actual thing involves a coexistence of opposed elements. Consequently to know, or, in other words, to comprehend an object is equivalent to being conscious of it as a concrete unity of opposed determinations. The old metaphysic, as we have already seen, when it studied the objects of which it sought a metaphysical knowledge, went to work by applying categories abstractly and to the exclusion of their opposites.[2]



While fear is a powerful emotion, it in-itself provides for knowledge of the opposite emotion. It defines a situation in which the existence or identity of a thing (or situation) depends on the co-existence of at least two conditions which are opposite to each other, yet dependent on each other and presupposing each other, within a field of tension.

Philosophical questions: Would the feelings of being happy be understood without the feelings of sadness? Would feelings of being hot be understood without the feelings of being cold? Would the feelings of having a purpose be understood without the feelings of no purpose?

And finally, what transcends both of those sensations or feelings? Is it the [W]ill to just be? And is the Will itself, a feeling?

[Consul]

A very important point: When I think of emotions, I think of emotional experiences, subjective feelings or moods; but when psychologists or neurophysiologists think of emotions, they often think of something else that is not part of the stream of subjective experience or the field of phenomenal consciousness. Given their usage, phrases such as "unexperienced emotions", "unfelt emotions", and "nonconscious emotions" aren't contradictions in terms—which I think they should be!
We may speak instead of a larger psychophysiological emotion-complex, of which emotions = emotional experiences are one part among other emotion-related yet nonemotional parts.

For example, Antonio Damasio is an eminent neuroscientist, and in his new book he defines "emotion" as follows:

QUOTE>
"Emotions: collections of co-occurring and involuntary internal actions (for example, smooth muscle contractions, changes in heart rate, breathing, hormonal secretions, facial expressions, posture) triggered by perceptual events. The emotive actions are usually aimed at supporting homeostasis, for instance, countering threats (with fear or anger) or signaling successful states (with joy). When we recall events from memory, we also produce emotions.

Feelings: the mental experiences that follow and accompany varied states of organism homeostasis, whether primary (homeostatic feelings such as hunger and thirst, pain or pleasure) or provoked by emotions (emotional feelings such as fear, anger, and joy)."

(Damasio, Antonio. Feeling and Knowing: Making Minds Conscious. New York: Pantheon, 2021. pp. 78-9)
<QUOTE

Emotions thus defined are not subjective feelings!
But I find it very odd to call nonconscious/nonexperiential physiological processes or mere overt behavior such as "facial expressions" and "posture" emotions. I agree instead with Joseph LeDoux, a leading expert in the (neuro)psychology of emotions:

QUOTE>
"Recent trends in basic emotions include approaches in which affect programs continue to contribute to emotion but in a less restrictive way. For example, James Coan treats emotions not as subjective experiences, but as emergent states that include amygdala activity, feedback from behavioral and physiological responses, and subjective experience. In other words, the experience is not the emotion but instead a factor that contributes to the emotion. This is an interesting approach, but I disagree with Coan’s treatment of subjective experience as just another factor in a mix of others that make emotions.

For me, the subjective experience—the feeling—is the emotion. These are not hardwired states programmed into subcortical circuits by natural selection, but rather cognitive evaluations of situations that affect personal well-being. They thus require complex cognitive processes and self-awareness. Much of the rest of this book is concerned with the roots and origins of human cognition and consciousness. This will set the stage for me, at the very end, to present my cognitive view of emotions as conscious experiences."

(LeDoux, Joseph. The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains. New York: Viking, 2019. p. 200)

"[T]hose who argue that emotions are conscious experiences sometimes claim that such experiences are just one aspect or component of emotion. For example, the Swiss psychologist Klaus Scherer views emotion as a process consisting of cognitive appraisals, expressive responses, physiological changes, and conscious feelings. In this view, fear is what happens when we cognitively appraise a situation as dangerous, express certain behaviors in response to it, are physiologically aroused, and feel fear. This approach seems logically cumbersome to me because it regards fear as both the overall process and the specific feeling of being afraid; fear (the experience) is thus a component of fear (the process).
…
Fear, anxiety, and other emotions are, in my view, just what people have always thought they were—conscious feelings. We often feel afraid while we freeze or flee in the presence of danger. But these are different consequences of threat detection—one is a conscious experience and the other involves more fundamental processes that operate nonconsciously. The failure to distinguish the conscious experience of fear and anxiety from more basic unconscious processes, I argue, has led to much confusion. The more basic processes contribute to emotional feelings, but they evolved, not to make conscious feelings, but instead to help organisms survive and thrive. For the sake of avoiding confusion, the more basic nonconscious processes should not be labeled as 'emotional'."

(LeDoux, Joseph. Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety. New York: Viking, 2015. pp. 19-20)
<QUOTE

[JackDaydream]

@3017metaphysician
Opposition within the world of emotions may be essential to the way it is constructed and the different ways this may happen, especially in relation to happiness and sadness. If people are unable to experience extreme sadness it may be questionable to what experience they can experience extreme happiness because contrast may be the way this is perceived and understood.

Based on my interaction with the many people I have ever known, I would say that some people seem to experience a fair amount of constancy whereas others are more aware of waves of extremes. My own experience is of extremes and changes, to the point where if I am happy I am afraid that this will end and, often if I am feeling in a great mood something happens which spoils it and turns it into all into the opposite. However, I have never had such extremes as to be diagnosed as 'bi polar' whereas I know some people who have, although I have had some episodes of depression. I also know some people who experience 'depression' as a constant experience and never seem to feel happy ever. I wonder why people differ in this sense and how much is biology and how much is about the construction of emotions.

It may involve will in relation to the construction of 'self', and how certain aspects of experience can be incorporated into a sense of self through the effort of will. I wonder if a more fluid sense of self gives more room for a wider expansion of negotiating of the opposites of emotion. Also, bearing in mind that emotions have a physical aspect it may be that a better ability to tolerate ambiguity may have a role in the brain's chemical pathways of making the emotions. One aspect of this may be about negotiating various aspects of experience and what I mean by this is that it may be possible to feel sad about some aspects of one's life and happy about others. There may be juggling of such evaluations of the various aspects of this as an important part of experience opposites and constructing an internal world of emotions.

[JackDaydream]

@Consul
Thank you for your detailed entry and the idea of emotion complexes sounds really important. What your post leaves me wondering if rather than concepts being important to experiencing emotions it may be the other way round. It could be that emotions are a tangible way in which human beings have a physical way of constructing the internal subjective reality of ideas in relation to experiences.

[Consul]

@Consul
Thank you for your detailed entry and the idea of emotion complexes sounds really important. What your post leaves me wondering if rather than concepts being important to experiencing emotions it may be the other way round. It could be that emotions are a tangible way in which human beings have a physical way of constructing the internal subjective reality of ideas in relation to experiences.

I'm not sure what to say, but according to concept empiricism our concepts are all rooted in experience, with emotional experience being a kind of experience.