“The emotion was there
but it wasn’t spelled out in neon”
(Bukowski, 2002, p. 221).
In the The Subtlety of Emotions, author Ben-Ze'ev explores whether our emotions are tied to our biological make up, are a part of our social experience, are a cognitive or psychological construct, or a combination of some or all of these. I tend to agree with the more interdisciplinary understanding of emotion, as defining emotion by a single criterion seems incomplete, and an oversimplification. “Emotions are highly complex and subtle phenomena whose explanation requires careful and systemic analysis of their multiple characteristics and components” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2000, p. 3).
When Ben-Ze’ev writes about the social, genetic, and cognitive aspects of emotions, I am reminded of
the mind-body problem in philosophy. In particular, Epiphenomenalism (a form of dualism), which claims that “mental events are caused by physical events in the brain, but have no effects upon any physical events…mental events play no causal role in this process” (Robinson, 2003, p. 1). This theory, in part, would conflict with Ben-Ze’ev’s view that emotions are mental states that are certainly purposeful (2000, p. 68-70). For example, emotions can be a motivator to make changes in our lives. Ben-Ze’ev lists motivation as one of the basic components of emotion (2000, p. 78). The philosophic theory, and Ben-Ze’ev’s descriptions of emotion, both share in accepting connections to dualism. Duality enters Ben-Ze’ev’s discussion of positive and negative emotions generated by significant changes in an individual’s life. The emotions are either positive or negative in nature. Without the stimulus of change, there is no need of any response and the status quo remains intact. “The existence of emotions, like that of other mental states, is relational: it presupposes the existence of someone who feels the emotion” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2000, p. 5).
Ben-Ze’ev presents a large amount of knowledge related to understanding the nature of emotions, and the complexities involved in the process of classification of emotions. He believes that “although the concept of emotions is indeed quite general and diverse, we nevertheless can make plausible generalizations about emotions” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2000, p. 5). These generalizations pave the way to building a comprehensive classification system of emotions. He describes categories of typical emotions, where groups of emotions are related in some aspect to a predominant typical case. To this categorization, four basic components are added to the characteristics considered in classification of emotions: “cognition, evaluation, motivation, and feeling” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2000, p. 78). Recognizing the value of an organized and inclusive presentation of his ideas, Ben-Ze’ev creates his classification of emotions in Figure 1, included below (2000, p. 94). Following this chart clarifies in my mind the many characteristics of emotions discussed in previous pages, and provides context to the terminology introduced.
References:
Ben-Ze’ev, A. (2000). The Subtlety of Emotions. The MIT Press.
Bukowski, C. (2002). Ham on Rye. First Ecco edition. New York, Ecco.
Marsden, R. & Williams, T. (2023). The Business of Emotions. Athabasca University.
Robinson, W. (2003). Epiphenomenalism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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