"There can be no knowledge without emotion. Until we have felt the force of the knowledge, it is not ours." Discuss this vision of the relationship between knowledge and emotion. The relationship between our emotions and our cognitive apparatus continues to be debated among philosophers, psychologists, researchers, artists and writers. Emotion, in itself, can be difficult to define, as there is a limitless range of emotions and different emotions can cause us to behave in different ways. It has be classed, nonetheless, as a way of knowing; emotion, in certain situations, can encourage us to seek out further knowledge, and, contrastingly, can hinder our acquisition of knowledge in others.
In the school environment, experiencing an emotion such as pleasure, for instance, when attending a certain class at school can lead us to seek to gain more insight and knowledge of a certain subject or topic. In the past, I have personally not put as much time or effort into subjects which have not interested me, such as the Sciences, as I do into the subjects I prefer. This hampers my performance considerably in Maths as I do not put as much effort into understanding what the formulas mean and how applicable they are to everyday life. Pairing meanings with mathematical concepts would no doubt have improved my understanding of them, but as I have no emotional incentive to seek out this understanding, my knowledge has been hindered.
Emotion is also integral to the human experience in developing relationships with others. Without emotion, interpersonal relationships would be affected, as our knowledge of other peoples’ feelings would escape us. We would have no emotional basis upon which to empathise or sympathise with other people. Reason and emotion collaboratively allow us to build our beliefs and their justifications and to reinforce our beliefs, affecting what we perceive and increasing the knowledge we acquire. Additionally, studies have shown
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that our decision-making capabilities are affected by the emotional pleasure responses in our brains, indicating how deeply intertwined reason and emotion appear to be. The case study of Phineas Gage supported this; Phineas Gage suffered brain damage after a mining accident drove a large rod through his left frontal lobe. The behavioural changes following his recovery saw Gage become crude, violent, ill-mannered and disrespectful towards women. This study shows that without emotion, our ability to reason and make decisions would be profoundly affected.
Emotion and knowledge are strongly interlinked in the area of religion. As a religious person, I base my beliefs on not only what I believe to be inspired scripture but also on blind faith. This faith requires a considerable amount of emotion as religion deals with metaphysical concepts beyond the material world. I am able to say that I believe in a God because I have an emotional connection between myself and the God I believe in. An atheist, contrastingly, would find it harder to believe in religious concepts that require blind faith as they would not be able to form emotional connections with things they cannot see. They base their disbelief on concrete evidence, while religious people base their beliefs on emotional experiences and the unseen. In the field of religion, therefore, knowledge is strongly dependent on emotion.
Emotion is particularly integral to our appreciation of art, be is visual arts or literature. In English, emotion helps us gain insight into the author’s intentions. When studying and analysing literature or poetry, we need to look for how the speaker attempts to convey meaning. More often than not, poetry has at its core a reflection on a certain aspect of human nature. Using our emotion, we are able to identify the words or images the author uses in order convey a particular emotion, and we do this by evaluating how certain words or images make us feel. Earlier this year we studied poetry by Carol Ann Duffy, a feminist poet, and were asked to make detailed annotations of the poetic devices she uses. Dramatic monologues do not always require the reader to sympathise with the speaker, but, as mentioned earlier, our emotional capacity enables us to understand other people’s emotions. We analysed her poem “Havisham,” which used a large amount of plosives and consonance, adding to the negative tone of the poem. Upon analysing the poem and reading it out loud multiple times, we were able to determine which emotions these poetic devices helped convey (anger and frustration). Similarly, in other types of poetry, our emotions enable us to develop a pseudo-personal relationship between ourselves and the speaker of the poem, and we are thus able to expand our knowledge of the theme and poetic intention. However, what we grasp from what we read is subjective, and therefore individual emotions can create different perspectives.
In visual arts, interpretation is heavily reliant on emotion. Much like literature, though even more so, visual artwork requires the audience to engage their emotional faculties in what they are presented with. Artwork is intended to make the audience feel something, using a variety of techniques to do so. The messages conveyed often spawn from the emotions and feelings of the artists. The Expressionist movement, originating in Germany and Austria in the early twentieth century, gives an example of this. Expressionist artists sought to portray emotion in their art and to represent emotional reactions with powerful colours and dynamic compositions. Kandinsky, a notable artist of Der Blaue Reiter group, believed that with simple colours and shapes the spectator could perceive the moods and feelings in the paintings. Expressionism has been defined by the modern day expressionist painter Joseph Minton as “[an] art form that truly allows the viewer to both see and feel the world through the eyes of the artist." Like literature, art also forms a quasi-relationship between the spectator and the artist. We draw on our emotions to guesstimate the messages the artist tries to convey. Abstract art also requires subjective thought, and therefore the interpretation can vary from person to person. Whether what we claim to understand from literature and the arts can be classed as knowledge or not is debatable, but it is indisputable that without emotion, our knowledge of artistic intention would be considerably hindered.
Art can also be used to convey messages to its audience; social or political movements often times use propaganda in the form pictures to garner support. For example, 20th century dictators Stalin and Hitler both used propaganda in the form of art to manipulate their people and promote their ideologies. Nazi propaganda is most commonly known to have featured photography, however a lesser known movement occurred in the field of visual arts. The Art of the Third Reich refers to the officially approved art of the National Socialist party between 1933 and 1945. Paintings produced during this era promoted values of racial purity, militarism and obedience and lauded the female activities of child bearing. Landscape paintings frequently featured peasants, living a simple, happy life in harmony with nature. Sculptures were also used to promote Nazi racial theories, commonly depicting the archetypal male as nude, Scandinavian and without imperfections – the Aryan race. Propaganda in Stalinist Russia was omnipresent and artwork was heavily censored and regulated. Socialist realism refers to the style of art that was developed during this period to promote the ideologies of socialism and communism. It aimed to elevate the common worker, often featuring schoolchildren and muscular workers in healthy, happy scenes. Stalin himself was often featured in artwork, portrayed as a godlike being and a saviour of the common man. It can be argued that, under these circumstances, the emotional impact the propaganda had on its viewers reduced their awareness of what was really happening. Hitler used idyllic, pastoral scenes depicting the Aryan race, while Stalin was glorified and portrayed as a godlike. Artwork of these periods drew on the emotions of the people in order to manipulate them into conformity. This proved to be dangerous, as the propaganda successfully garnered support, or purposeful ignorance, for both of these movements. The strict regulation meant that the truth was repressed, hindering the knowledge of the observers of the propaganda. Evidently, our emotions can at times lead us to believe in falsehoods, hindering our knowledge of the truth.
In conclusion, without emotion, adopting a profound belief in God, analysing literature or appreciating art would be significantly harder, if not impossible. Emotion can open up our minds to new ideas and ideologies, but it can also hinder our ability to see the bigger picture, as seen with propaganda. Therefore, though in certain cases emotion can be a hindrance, the argument that there can be no knowledge without emotion is true, as more often than not, emotion is crucial to the acquisition of knowledge.
The relationship between our emotions and our cognitive apparatus continues to be debated among philosophers, psychologists, researchers, artists and writers. Emotion, in itself, can be difficult to define, as there is a limitless range of emotions and different emotions can cause us to behave in different ways. It has be classed, nonetheless, as a way of knowing; emotion, in certain situations, can encourage us to seek out further knowledge, and, contrastingly, can hinder our acquisition of knowledge in others.
In the school environment, experiencing an emotion such as pleasure, for instance, when attending a certain class at school can lead us to seek to gain more insight and knowledge of a certain subject or topic. In the past, I have personally not put as much time or effort into subjects which have not interested me, such as the Sciences, as I do into the subjects I prefer. This hampers my performance considerably in Maths as I do not put as much effort into understanding what the formulas mean and how applicable they are to everyday life. Pairing meanings with mathematical concepts would no doubt have improved my understanding of them, but as I have no emotional incentive to seek out this understanding, my knowledge has been hindered.
Emotion is also integral to the human experience in developing relationships with others. Without emotion, interpersonal relationships would be affected, as our knowledge of other peoples’ feelings would escape us. We would have no emotional basis upon which to empathise or sympathise with other people. Reason and emotion collaboratively allow us to build our beliefs and their justifications and to reinforce our beliefs, affecting what we perceive and increasing the knowledge we acquire. Additionally, studies have shown
Emotion and knowledge are strongly interlinked in the area of religion. As a religious person, I base my beliefs on not only what I believe to be inspired scripture but also on blind faith. This faith requires a considerable amount of emotion as religion deals with metaphysical concepts beyond the material world. I am able to say that I believe in a God because I have an emotional connection between myself and the God I believe in. An atheist, contrastingly, would find it harder to believe in religious concepts that require blind faith as they would not be able to form emotional connections with things they cannot see. They base their disbelief on concrete evidence, while religious people base their beliefs on emotional experiences and the unseen. In the field of religion, therefore, knowledge is strongly dependent on emotion.
Emotion is particularly integral to our appreciation of art, be is visual arts or literature. In English, emotion helps us gain insight into the author’s intentions. When studying and analysing literature or poetry, we need to look for how the speaker attempts to convey meaning. More often than not, poetry has at its core a reflection on a certain aspect of human nature. Using our emotion, we are able to identify the words or images the author uses in order convey a particular emotion, and we do this by evaluating how certain words or images make us feel. Earlier this year we studied poetry by Carol Ann Duffy, a feminist poet, and were asked to make detailed annotations of the poetic devices she uses. Dramatic monologues do not always require the reader to sympathise with the speaker, but, as mentioned earlier, our emotional capacity enables us to understand other people’s emotions. We analysed her poem “Havisham,” which used a large amount of plosives and consonance, adding to the negative tone of the poem. Upon analysing the poem and reading it out loud multiple times, we were able to determine which emotions these poetic devices helped convey (anger and frustration). Similarly, in other types of poetry, our emotions enable us to develop a pseudo-personal relationship between ourselves and the speaker of the poem, and we are thus able to expand our knowledge of the theme and poetic intention. However, what we grasp from what we read is subjective, and therefore individual emotions can create different perspectives.
In visual arts, interpretation is heavily reliant on emotion. Much like literature, though even more so, visual artwork requires the audience to engage their emotional faculties in what they are presented with. Artwork is intended to make the audience feel something, using a variety of techniques to do so. The messages conveyed often spawn from the emotions and feelings of the artists. The Expressionist movement, originating in Germany and Austria in the early twentieth century, gives an example of this. Expressionist artists sought to portray emotion in their art and to represent emotional reactions with powerful colours and dynamic compositions. Kandinsky, a notable artist of Der Blaue Reiter group, believed that with simple colours and shapes the spectator could perceive the moods and feelings in the paintings. Expressionism has been defined by the modern day expressionist painter Joseph Minton as “[an] art form that truly allows the viewer to both see and feel the world through the eyes of the artist." Like literature, art also forms a quasi-relationship between the spectator and the artist. We draw on our emotions to guesstimate the messages the artist tries to convey. Abstract art also requires subjective thought, and therefore the interpretation can vary from person to person. Whether what we claim to understand from literature and the arts can be classed as knowledge or not is debatable, but it is indisputable that without emotion, our knowledge of artistic intention would be considerably hindered.
Art can also be used to convey messages to its audience; social or political movements often times use propaganda in the form pictures to garner support. For example, 20th century dictators Stalin and Hitler both used propaganda in the form of art to manipulate their people and promote their ideologies. Nazi propaganda is most commonly known to have featured photography, however a lesser known movement occurred in the field of visual arts. The Art of the Third Reich refers to the officially approved art of the National Socialist party between 1933 and 1945. Paintings produced during this era promoted values of racial purity, militarism and obedience and lauded the female activities of child bearing. Landscape paintings frequently featured peasants, living a simple, happy life in harmony with nature. Sculptures were also used to promote Nazi racial theories, commonly depicting the archetypal male as nude, Scandinavian and without imperfections – the Aryan race. Propaganda in Stalinist Russia was omnipresent and artwork was heavily censored and regulated. Socialist realism refers to the style of art that was developed during this period to promote the ideologies of socialism and communism. It aimed to elevate the common worker, often featuring schoolchildren and muscular workers in healthy, happy scenes. Stalin himself was often featured in artwork, portrayed as a godlike being and a saviour of the common man. It can be argued that, under these circumstances, the emotional impact the propaganda had on its viewers reduced their awareness of what was really happening. Hitler used idyllic, pastoral scenes depicting the Aryan race, while Stalin was glorified and portrayed as a godlike. Artwork of these periods drew on the emotions of the people in order to manipulate them into conformity. This proved to be dangerous, as the propaganda successfully garnered support, or purposeful ignorance, for both of these movements. The strict regulation meant that the truth was repressed, hindering the knowledge of the observers of the propaganda. Evidently, our emotions can at times lead us to believe in falsehoods, hindering our knowledge of the truth.
In conclusion, without emotion, adopting a profound belief in God, analysing literature or appreciating art would be significantly harder, if not impossible. Emotion can open up our minds to new ideas and ideologies, but it can also hinder our ability to see the bigger picture, as seen with propaganda. Therefore, though in certain cases emotion can be a hindrance, the argument that there can be no knowledge without emotion is true, as more often than not, emotion is crucial to the acquisition of knowledge.