Ways of Knowing: Emotion

Another way of knowing is through emotions. In the Theory of Knowledge course, emotion can be defined as a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. Emotions are a part of a person’s mental state, and they are usually a major influence on how a person perceives the world around them. Emotions can also be seen to influence and work together with reason and logic, as some people need emotions to drive their reason, although this is not the case with everyone. This was shown in the film Twelve Angry Men as the lawyer’s reasoning for the boy’s innocence or guiltiness were due to both emotional and logical factors.

Emotions can also be seen as a “universal language” to some extent because many people have either experienced something similar, or seen such emotions. An example of this is emotion expressed through art. In music for example, if someone listens to a very cheerful and exciting song, many people will be able to recognize the type of emotion that is expressed, and might say that it resembles happiness, and joy. However, there are certainly limitations to this, as there are certain emotions that cannot be expressed and/or described in words.

Even though our emotions work together to give us meanings, and further allow people to acquire knowledge, I still believe that at times, there are certainly some limitations to them, and therefore, it is questionable whether or not we can always rely on our emotions. One of the limitations is that some emotions can cause people to either focus or reject certain aspects of reality. Furthermore, I believe that emotions can also sometimes stunt a person’s ability to learn and think. For example, if a person feels emotionally distressed or is in a state of depression, that person may reject and/or dislike everything that is presented to them. Such emotions can then cause the person to not be totally open to new ideas or information, which ultimately limits their ability to gain knowledge, and think.

Overall, I think that I am more emotionally based rather than logic, as many of the things I do are mostly due to emotional factors. An example of this is that whenever I have to buy something, whether its clothes, shoes, or games, most of the times, I mostly focus on how I feel about somethings, and according to that make my decisions on what to buy.