Many people talk about emotion and logic in a manner that suggests the two don’t match up, as if they are always distinct and separate. They assert that emotion has no basis in logic, and logic has no basis in emotion. While one could make the argument that the latter is true (does physics have a foundation of emotion?), I propose that the former is never true. No, I do not believe that ideas of pure logic match up with ideas that incorporate emotion, but the reasons behind the emotion are always logical.
I recently came across a Datingish post entitled “Are You Overthinking on Love?” (you can read it
here). The author of this post claims that “Ones who have been in love know that love defies all logic. We see an imperfect person oh so perfectly. We fall head over heels for someone who may not even have the slightest interest. We can’t seem to find the reason we’re in love with him/her…” This raises a valid point:
One doesn’t always know why they’re in love. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a logical reason behind it, it simply means that that logic is hidden in the subconscious. People can ‘fall in love’ for a plethora of reasons, ranging from positive traits that person has, the way that person makes us feel, or even that we long for what we can’t have, among others. Perhaps the person he or she is ‘in love with’ does cause him or her emotional harm, but there’s something about them specifically that attracts the other person specifically. That comes down to personalities, and personalities are largely emotion-driven.
Furthermore, just because one knows why the way they feel is ‘wrong,’ the reasoning behind their feeling is still potentially logical. For instance, in a couple where one person is much more sexually experienced than the other, the less experienced person may not be entirely at ease with the imbalance. He or she may feel that, because the other person has had the same relations with many other people, it devalues the relations they are having together; on the other hand, because the less experienced person has had no people prior to their current SO, he or she may feel he or she places more importance on the sexual interactions. Is this entirely illogical? No. Because it makes perfect sense that when something happens less often, the times when it does happen seem more substantial. When applied to the scenario, this perceived difference in importance can stretch to feelings on the entirety of the relationship, and it can then manifest as jealousy. The reason that this is not a purely “logical” thought process is because it may ignore key things, such as the fact that the past acts were the results of relationships that are not entirely comparable, and relationships that, even if emotion did factor into them, don’t directly apply to the current state. Even so, the emotions are driven by logical thought processes, despite the fact that the logic may be contained to the individual’s understanding of the situation.
Don’t get me wrong: Logic and emotion are distinct in several key ways. Logic on its own isn’t necessarily going to alter emotional perceptions, and emotion doesn’t stand a chance of making something that was once entirely logical invalid unless one is making the point to involve emotional concerns in the logic. The fact of the matter is that human beings are not strictly emotional, nor are they strictly logical. Because our brains control the entirety of our body, everything is interconnected. We cannot think entirely logically, objectively, because every single one of us is in some way biased. The only thing we can do to undermine this bias is consider as many aspects as possible… but the bias still exists in nearly everything, and definitely in psychological questions. In short, anything that involves emotion cannot be looked at from a purely logical perspective (because to ignore emotions when they are a major factor is illogical), and emotions are founded on thought processes that make some logical sense, even if it’s hidden in the subconscious.
The practical difference, I think, in logic and emotions is how the thought process affects the chemicals in the brain. Emotions, after all, are merely the release of chemicals in the brain that make us feel happy or sad, raise heart rate, dilate our eyes, make us sweat, and make us shiver, among other things. Emotions may be thought to be the reactions to certain thoughts that wouldn’t necessarily happen if the thoughts were not as relevant to their interests.
If one acts on 'emotion' over 'logic', that means that person is going after what he or she wants over what he or she knows would be the 'best' in terms of avoiding pain or gaining pleasure for him/her or other people, but the reason the person wants it makes logical sense to begin with.
Thoughts?
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Comments (18)
This is the heart of my inner turmoil: trying to justify emotions logically. But you knew this. :)
This really is a difficult thing to grasp. I've struggled between logic and emotion for a long time... disregarding anger and sadness because I knew I did not look logical for expressing them, or fearing that I "shouldn't feel a certain feeling, so I try to abstain from it.
It's taken a long time, but my fiance has shown me that it's OKAY to show that you're angry. To show you're upset. To show that you like or dislike something, and generally just to have an opinion. Many opinions can only be made by what you feel about a certain subject, emotionally.
It's difficult to know when you're emotions are or aren't irrational.
This is smarter than what a lot of people will say in response to it.
I think that a lot of the relationship kerfuffle about logic/emotion comes down to:
1. People feeling things (emotion) that they can't convey with any accuracy, end up feeling like they're "illogical" or worse, they have to deal with partners who call them that.
2. People trying to think out (be logical about) their emotions without understanding them or respecting them. Jealousy is a favorite example. "Why am I jealous, I should be, I shouldn't be, blah blah blah" without first saying, "Ok, I feel jealous. About what? Ok, about that." and so on. This idea that logic somehow judges emotions, "puts them in their place." That makes no sense.
3. The other half of 1. and 2. which is the partner involved. I think people should strive to listen to each other, so when someone's emoting, the other person's job is to say, "I hear you saying X" or "You feel X way about this thing." When the other person's being over-logical and not feeling what they feel, the partner's job is to say, "I think you should feel this out first for a while" or something like that.
In short, according to my view of the universe of relationships, the rules are:
FEEL first, and then THINK second. Don't STUFF your feelings, but don't forget to THINK about them either, so they don't make you do silly impulsive shit before you have any idea why you feel what you do.
Ok, return to daily life now.
I like your refutation post against my blog :]
Having emotions are logical. Fight or flight is all emotions. We're programmed to do that because it helps us survive. Nowadays, emotions are there as a sort of social survival skill. Of course, pondering "Is my SO cheating on me" is a little more complicated than "Is this lion about to eat me" so we need logic to kind of help guide the emotions.
Here's a quote from one of my favorite poet's (Kahlil Gibran) book, "The Prophet":
Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your
seafaring soul.
If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you
can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For
reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is
a flame that burns to its own destruction.
@My_Glass_Is_Half_Fulll@xanga - Haha, thanks. I'm glad you aren't taking it as an attack. :3
good to know
Uhm yeah
i likeeeeeee
@JaydenWolf@xanga - "This really is a difficult thing to grasp. I've struggled between logic and emotion for a long time... disregarding anger and sadness because I knew I did not look logical for expressing them, or fearing that I "shouldn't feel a certain feeling, so I try to abstain from it."
My exact problem as we speak. Stil have no idea how to go about it.
@mcmeister89@mancouch - Good quote.
It appears that when "logic" is invoked, it is a term merely used to connotate that emotions are sensible. Perhaps reason/able is a more fitting word, because to say that "emotions are logical" implies that emotions have been determined to have a degree of validity/consistency. When combined with personal experience, which a thinking person uses to determine whether to be angry, we find that subjectivity negates the sort of consistency that logic would imply, and so I find reason (a rational motive for a belief or action) to be a more accurate term. Other than this nit-picky suggestion, I think you are quite correct in your evaluation.
sometimes something isn't logical anymore but it did start out that way, if you get what I mean...which would probably result in a logical reason
@xpialadocious@xanga - Makes perfect sense to me.
I think it is important that people accept whether they follow their brain or heart more... For me, being aware and acknowledging that I have more distress when I attempt not to was important for me. And that's a logical decision to arrive at. Too many times people try to be what they aren't because emotions are seen as (a) a feminine quality and (b) unreasonable/insensible/illogical... No one wants to be (b). but we need to accept ourselves as we are, acknowledge our emotions as our strength rather than our weakness, and then it will be easier to incorporate more logical avenues when instead of avoiding, defeating, or battling (working against) our emotions, we are trying to find a balance by working with them.
@schallerbrandon@xanga - You do make a valid argument... However, I would also like to add that i find that in certain cases to completely remove context is illogical and also inapplicable.. Logic though objective should be replicable. If context is not taken into play, the same logic conclusion for different contexts may prove to be illogical or simply useless. Considering context with objectivity does not necessarily remove objectivity. It's simply more reasonable/sensible logic.
For example: Telling someone to take a day off from work when they are sick will have different consequences for a salary worker versus an hourly worker, someone with kids versus someone without, someone who's well off versus someone who's poor. While generally it is logical to take off from work if ill, it is illogical to do so if the consequences leave you hungry.
@ChaMeLeOn121@xanga - "The Prophet" is one of maybe two-three books I can actually say changed my outlook on the world and the relationships within it.
I decided I was going to underline my favorite quotes from it on a plane ride out out to California. I think I have half the book underlined.
I don't have a good reply other than to say i entirely agree.
I thought there was a logically reason, but I was too tired to try and find it.