Once upon a time
By Gabriel Okara (a Nigerian Poet)
Once upon a time, son,
they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.
There was a time indeed
they used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts:
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.
‘Feel at home’! ‘Come again’:
they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice –
for then I find doors shut on me.
So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.
And I have learned too
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say, ‘Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’;
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
nice talking to you’, after being bored.
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!
So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like you.
Emotions
Emotion
•This is less measurable and tangible than our senses
– it’s hard to count how many emotions there are
•each of us is affected in a different way by our emotion
•key question to do with emotion:
- to what extent it helps, and to what extent hinder, us in
building up an objective picture of the world?
How can we define emotion?
• here is the OED definition of emotion:
• noun 1 a strong feeling, such as joy or anger. 2 instinctive
feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.
• — DERIVATIVES emotionless adjective.
• — ORIGIN originally denoting a public disturbance: from
French, from Latin emovere ‘disturb’.
• Worthy of note is the distinction between emotion and
reason – the first being instinctive, the second being
something with which we are consciously involved.
Activity
1. Quickly list as many different emotions as you can in
a one-minute period.
2.On the line below place five emotions from above on
a scale from
• weakest (least effecting and shortest lived)
to
• strongest (most effecting and longest lived)
Weakest
Stronger
Strongest
Emotion Assignment
The Question: Which Emotion is the strongest for
humans?
1) Write down three strong brief arguments in
support of your strongest emotion
2) Write down two strong brief arguments against
the weaker emotions
…i.e. why do you think so?
Robert Plutchik’s (1928 – 2006) theory of emotion
The three-tiered model of emotions
A less concrete principle of ordering emotions, but one that uses similar ideas to
Plutchik’s, is the one that orders them into three tiers, depending on how ‘basic’ they
are to us. Primary emotions, again, are the ones most innate in us, secondary and
tertiary ones come to us after we have experienced the initially emotional reactions.
This can be seen in the following table:
Where do emotions come from?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Imagination
Sleepy
Alert
Reason
Dreams
….A state of mind?
Where do emotions come from?
Where do emotions come from?
• The debate:
Do emotions come from
the BODY or the MIND?
Where do emotions come from?
• emotion is believed to be generated from a
physical source,
• the part of the brain responsible for it is the
limbic system of the brain,
• made up of several structures located in the
cerebral cortex.
• These structures register the levels of chemicals –
called neurotransmitters - being manufactured by
the body in response to certain conditions the
person is experiencing.
Do you think with the heart or the
mind?
• What is the connection between:
reason and emotion?
OR to what extent are they linked?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O92lCgX7208
• (see next slide first)
• What does it tell us about the relationship between
emotion and reason when it comes to making
decisions?
• How is this a reevaluation of the way emotion is
traditionally viewed?
Damasio’s: Descartes’ Error
• To the new generation of neuroscientists, the gap
between emotion and reason is narrowing – and
to some, there no longer is a gap.
• One of the best-known of these scientists is
Antonio Damasio (1944- ), whose popular book,
Descartes’ Error set out his theory:
• that far from being obstructed by emotion, as is
usually assumed (how can we make rational
decisions if we are angry, ecstatic, depressed,
etc.) reason is often directed by emotion.
Phineas Gage
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12649555
Read the above article and answer the following questions:
•What does the case suggest about the relationship between reason and emotion?
…But
• Of course, Damasio does not say that all decisions are
made as a result of our emotions taking over.
• ‘High reason’ is the term he uses for choices that are
made on the basis of weighing up logical
considerations, without allowing emotion to interfere
with the process.
• An example may be the type of car you buy: this
important choice involves a comparison of price, fuel
consumption, safety features, performance, and so on
of different makes of car.
• You may also think about previous experiences you
have had with the makes and models you are
considering, and the opinions of friends and family
members.
Activity
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8339647.stm
• Read the article that you will find using the above
link
• Respond to one of the views below it or write a
view/reflection of your own to the article.
(Similar length as the others)
• http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/279
Emotion knowledge issues and links with other WOKs and AOKs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Is it possible to know anything purely through our emotions? Or are they always
affected by reason, sense perception and language?
Are emotions biological or “hard-wired” into our psyches, and therefore universal
to all human beings? Or are they shaped by culture and displayed differently in
different societies?
Can feelings be based on rational ideas? Or is the concept of 'emotional
intelligence' (the title of a book by Daniel Goleman) an oxymoron?
Bertrand Russell said: 'control your emotion or it will control you'. Is this
possible? Does it depend on the culture from which we are from?
Are concepts such as nationalism and racism examples of collective emotions?
Is faith an emotion or is it a rational choice? Or is it neither of these things?
Robert Ebert said, 'your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie
to you.' But can emotions mislead us? And can other people help us to recognize
emotions that we didn't realize we had?
Why is reason often considered more important than emotion in our process of
building up knowledge?
David Hume claimed that “Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the
passions.” Is it true that emotions are the essential driver of any purposeful
activity?
Hemingway said, 'I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and
what is immoral is what you feel bad after.' What part does emotion play in
assessing whether an action is morally justifiable?
What is more important in arriving at a moral conclusion: reason or emotion?
Work Cited
•
•
•
•
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/279
http://www.theoryofknowledge.net
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8339647.stm
http://TOKtalk.net