Does emotion help or hinder the process in which we obtain knowledge?
Emotion can be activated by internal or external causes, certain emotions have their own connotations thus allowing individuals to associate and define certain emotions to themselves. It is suggested that emotion is required to be able to attain knowledge, although the quote itself is vague as to what type of knowledge can only be obtained through emotion. There is many different types of knowledge, as well as many different ways to obtain it. We can gain knowledge through the use of our own senses, knowledge can also be proven to be accurate and true through the use of scientific theories, there is also group knowledge, where there is a commonly held belief in civilization. Emotion plays different roles in the different ways of obtaining knowledge as when we obtain knowledge through our own senses, it is our own judgment we have to make on whether we feel that this knowledge is correct or not. As we know emotions can be proved quite easily, we as human beings are also influenced greatly by others, therefore the role of emotion in obtaining group knowledge is very different to when we obtain it ourselves, as we have a broader spectrum of opinions on which we form our own. Emotion in the commonly held beliefs in society varies, as we as human beings naturally want to be accepted in society and we don’t normally go out of our ways to interfere with the status quo of things, therefore our emotions might tell us something is not quite right with the commonly held belief, we may just choose to overwrite these emotions and accept them anyway. The three areas of knowledge I shall be discussing are the natural sciences, economics and mathematics.
Different emotions ultimately can affect the way we can acquire knowledge, mainly talking about the extremes of our emotions. For example, if you are overly excited about something happening after school, this can have a knock on effect of other emotions, causing you to become irritable, impatient and unfocused. This would then mean your attention span may shorten, then leading to you not listening and fully taking in what your teacher is saying to you, this would therefore affect the level of knowledge you take in. I have experienced this situation on numerous occasions, especially to do with the feeling of excitement, on the last period of the school day on the last day of term, I am normally in the mindset that I have a whole holiday ahead of me and I just can’t wait for the time to pass so it can proceed, this can hinder the way I acquire knowledge as what my teacher is saying in that last period could be of great importance to my subject but I am so preoccupied with wanting to go home, those emotions override my ability to focus. Also, if you are outraged by something, you may act upon them purely through the emotion you are feeling as it is too powerful for you to assess the situation you are in. Emotion here plays a role in the way you acquire knowledge as it can impair your reasoning skills and cause you to act irrationally, if you were not feeling the extremes of this emotion you may evaluate the situation differently therefore causing you to act differently.
Firstly, an area of knowledge I am going to explore is Biology, a natural science, biology is an area in which the level of emotion needed to acquire knowledge in this area fluctuates. In the natural sciences, knowledge is gained through a scientist creating a hypothesis and then acting upon what he has hypothesized through vigorous testing. Emotion however, still plays a role in biology as many things are hypothesized and tested on, yet they are later found to not be true, to formulate a hypothesis in the first place scientists would be using their own intuition to prove what they believe is true. This can lead to bias when testing as they could test a hypothesis in favour of the hypothesis. I know this from being taught about enzymes in biology, the process in which a substrate binds to an enzyme was firstly theorized by the lock and key model, this was later adapted to the induced-fit model, what the scientist had believed to be true had later been proven wrong. Although intuition is needed to firstly create a hypothesis, the process of biology is mainly factual recall as well as approaching things logically and methodically. We can simply memorize facts and figures in biology, yet for particular topics we need to involve our emotions so that we can truly understand what is going on, thus leading to the knowledge becoming ‘ours’. In ways our emotion can help us start to acquire knowledge in biology, but at the same time it can hinder our acquisition of knowledge as we may be focused on trying to prove something we think to be true, therefore making us rule out any other possibilities if we get too carried away.
Economics is much like biology in regards to the emotional involvement. Many believe economic theories are purely based on logic, when in reality economics has a large amount of emotion involved. Two economists John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman both share similar views on some economic concepts, yet completely contrasting views on other economic contrasts, therefore resulting in them creating completely different economic curves, the Keynesian curve and the monetarist/neo-classical curve. Their differing views have led to these differing theories as their emotions have driven them in different directions as to what they think is right and what they think is more important economically, which would have an effect on other members of society. This then relies on us to use our intuition to follow what we as knowers, believe to be the right concept, both concepts are equally right, but only one can be chosen. This can hinder the way we acquire knowledge as we are presented with opposing views and are then made to choose between them, but at the same time it can help as we are forced to combine our logic with emotions.
The role emotion plays in mathematics is also varied. The way you create mathematical theories is mainly through logic, and the way mathematical problems are solved is also through logic. Understanding the logic behind mathematics can be influenced by our emotions, for example, mathematics is not a subject that comes naturally to me, therefore when I am trying to figure out a problem and I just can’t seem to do it I become frustrated and normally give up, this is my emotions blurring my sense to think logically because of the fact at the first glance of the problem I have no idea as to how to apply the mathematical logic to it, this then leaves me unable to do anything with the problem as I am blinded by my frustration to even think logically about what it is asking.
Conclusion?????
Overall, a good attempt at answering this question. It was particularly pleasing to see you reflecting on yourself as a knower so much. To further improve it you should try to include more real life situations that don't involve you to show some variety. It would also have been good to see you discuss a AoK that is heavily reliant on emotion. Additionally, although you do refer to the question occasionally, this needed to happen more often.
Emotion can be activated by internal or external causes, certain emotions have their own connotations thus allowing individuals to associate and define certain emotions to themselves. It is suggested that emotion is required to be able to attain knowledge, although the quote itself is vague as to what type of knowledge can only be obtained through emotion. There is many different types of knowledge, as well as many different ways to obtain it. We can gain knowledge through the use of our own senses, knowledge can also be proven to be accurate and true through the use of scientific theories, there is also group knowledge, where there is a commonly held belief in civilization. Emotion plays different roles in the different ways of obtaining knowledge as when we obtain knowledge through our own senses, it is our own judgment we have to make on whether we feel that this knowledge is correct or not. As we know emotions can be proved quite easily, we as human beings are also influenced greatly by others, therefore the role of emotion in obtaining group knowledge is very different to when we obtain it ourselves, as we have a broader spectrum of opinions on which we form our own. Emotion in the commonly held beliefs in society varies, as we as human beings naturally want to be accepted in society and we don’t normally go out of our ways to interfere with the status quo of things, therefore our emotions might tell us something is not quite right with the commonly held belief, we may just choose to overwrite these emotions and accept them anyway. The three areas of knowledge I shall be discussing are the natural sciences, economics and mathematics.
Different emotions ultimately can affect the way we can acquire knowledge, mainly talking about the extremes of our emotions. For example, if you are overly excited about something happening after school, this can have a knock on effect of other emotions, causing you to become irritable, impatient and unfocused. This would then mean your attention span may shorten, then leading to you not listening and fully taking in what your teacher is saying to you, this would therefore affect the level of knowledge you take in. I have experienced this situation on numerous occasions, especially to do with the feeling of excitement, on the last period of the school day on the last day of term, I am normally in the mindset that I have a whole holiday ahead of me and I just can’t wait for the time to pass so it can proceed, this can hinder the way I acquire knowledge as what my teacher is saying in that last period could be of great importance to my subject but I am so preoccupied with wanting to go home, those emotions override my ability to focus. Also, if you are outraged by something, you may act upon them purely through the emotion you are feeling as it is too powerful for you to assess the situation you are in. Emotion here plays a role in the way you acquire knowledge as it can impair your reasoning skills and cause you to act irrationally, if you were not feeling the extremes of this emotion you may evaluate the situation differently therefore causing you to act differently.
Firstly, an area of knowledge I am going to explore is Biology, a natural science, biology is an area in which the level of emotion needed to acquire knowledge in this area fluctuates. In the natural sciences, knowledge is gained through a scientist creating a hypothesis and then acting upon what he has hypothesized through vigorous testing. Emotion however, still plays a role in biology as many things are hypothesized and tested on, yet they are later found to not be true, to formulate a hypothesis in the first place scientists would be using their own intuition to prove what they believe is true. This can lead to bias when testing as they could test a hypothesis in favour of the hypothesis. I know this from being taught about enzymes in biology, the process in which a substrate binds to an enzyme was firstly theorized by the lock and key model, this was later adapted to the induced-fit model, what the scientist had believed to be true had later been proven wrong. Although intuition is needed to firstly create a hypothesis, the process of biology is mainly factual recall as well as approaching things logically and methodically. We can simply memorize facts and figures in biology, yet for particular topics we need to involve our emotions so that we can truly understand what is going on, thus leading to the knowledge becoming ‘ours’. In ways our emotion can help us start to acquire knowledge in biology, but at the same time it can hinder our acquisition of knowledge as we may be focused on trying to prove something we think to be true, therefore making us rule out any other possibilities if we get too carried away.
Economics is much like biology in regards to the emotional involvement. Many believe economic theories are purely based on logic, when in reality economics has a large amount of emotion involved. Two economists John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman both share similar views on some economic concepts, yet completely contrasting views on other economic contrasts, therefore resulting in them creating completely different economic curves, the Keynesian curve and the monetarist/neo-classical curve. Their differing views have led to these differing theories as their emotions have driven them in different directions as to what they think is right and what they think is more important economically, which would have an effect on other members of society. This then relies on us to use our intuition to follow what we as knowers, believe to be the right concept, both concepts are equally right, but only one can be chosen. This can hinder the way we acquire knowledge as we are presented with opposing views and are then made to choose between them, but at the same time it can help as we are forced to combine our logic with emotions.
The role emotion plays in mathematics is also varied. The way you create mathematical theories is mainly through logic, and the way mathematical problems are solved is also through logic. Understanding the logic behind mathematics can be influenced by our emotions, for example, mathematics is not a subject that comes naturally to me, therefore when I am trying to figure out a problem and I just can’t seem to do it I become frustrated and normally give up, this is my emotions blurring my sense to think logically because of the fact at the first glance of the problem I have no idea as to how to apply the mathematical logic to it, this then leaves me unable to do anything with the problem as I am blinded by my frustration to even think logically about what it is asking.
Conclusion?????
Overall, a good attempt at answering this question. It was particularly pleasing to see you reflecting on yourself as a knower so much. To further improve it you should try to include more real life situations that don't involve you to show some variety. It would also have been good to see you discuss a AoK that is heavily reliant on emotion. Additionally, although you do refer to the question occasionally, this needed to happen more often.