One thing which has always fascinated me is basic emotions; I’ve always wondered what emotions we humans feel compared to other animals. Why do we feel emotions at all? Why do we show them? Where did they come from?
I’ve found that Darwin also researched this idea when he proposed his theory of survival of the fittest. It became apparent that pretty much all mammals show their emotions be it; anger, fear, happiness etc. humans tend to primarily show their emotions through their facial expressions, however, an animal such as a dog may show their emotions through growling or wagging their tail etc. What I think makes this topic so interesting is that this planet has been around for about 4.5 billion years but we have no clue of when emotions first existed and how they came about. If everything (including emotions) came from the planet earth….does the planet have emotions of its own? Could we classify the planet as a living being? Does the planet react in any way to show its emotions? It may seem like a weird concept to get your head around but eastern culture it may not seem so farfetched. In eastern and African philosophy there tends to be belief that the planet we live on is alive and has emotions of its own. A movie I saw (The Happening) fairly recently also supported this belief, it showed a deadly disease which is transported through air and causes humans to commit suicide, the idea for the origin of the disease was that the world was mad at our wasteful lifestyle and in result gave us a warning. I know this sounds a little extreme but what if it holds some truth? What if the world really did have emotions of its own?
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I don’t know if the Earth has emotions like humans or animals, but I definitely agree that it has reactions similar to emotions are response. The Earth reacts in positive or negative ways based on the actions of its surroundings. If the Earth is in an imbalance like heating up a few degrees, it reacts by destroying habitat and raising water levels. The Earth also reacts positively with care for the land. The land is able to restore itself if humans allow the land to be undisturbed or to help restore habitat and vegetation. The Earth is living and breathing and reacts just like other Earth beings to its environment.
ReplyDeleteI too have wondered where the roots of emotions came from- not simply brain functions and reactions and signals to the face/body, but what provoked all of those things? I think your claim of the Earth showing its emotions is accurate- things like volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics, ice ages, tsunamis, tornados, etc. all seem to be the Earth’s way of destroying part of itself so that new growth can flourish. I think applying this general concept of emotion can also be seen with humans as a whole. We all have individual emotions, but what about collectively? Could disease and warfare be the human race’s way of displaying its overall emotion through checks and balances?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a very basic step in responding to this question involves getting clear on what we mean by "emotions." Does it mean showing pleasure or displeasure as Julie's reply or M. Night Shamylan's "The Happening" suggest? Is emotion simply a reaction to something else?
ReplyDeleteSometimes my dog tries to wake me up, showing very definite emotion by wagging his tale, stomping around and licking my face. I don't know what he's reacting to, since I was asleep, and these actions are the same whether he has to pee or he's just really excited. We seem to be clear when emotions are at issue, but it's still very hard to say either what they mean or what "causes" them. It might be that emotions just mean themselves (i.e. if I'm excited it means "I'm excited!") and that they therefore don't have a single determinate cause--think of the way Aristotle discusses causes and the way Heidegger reinterprets Aristotle's discussion of causation.
But in that case, how are we supposed to respond to emotions? There are all sorts of times when we have to deny or otherwise hold our emotions in check in order to get things done. Can we do the same with the earth's "emotions"? Historically, how have we responded to our own or others' emotions and has this response been appropriate?
This sounds like a possible paper topic, so I'll leave it to others to respond to these questions.