Post by sonnyt2 on Nov 4, 2017 1:14:50 GMT
Is Damasio open to the idea that learning plays a role in emotion? Explain your answer including an example.
When we consider the way emotion is understood in a general sense, we are discussing what Damasio would call emotions proper. When explaining what he means by this, he says, "This is where we find the crown-jewel of automated life regulation: emotions in the narrow sense of the term- from joy and sorrow and fear, to pride and shame and sympathy." (Damasio 34) When considering his words and his reductionist view, I think it is plain to see that Damasio is open to the idea that the emotions we attach to certain images and situations are in a significant way in context to the society we belong to and what that society influences us to value. For example, I love animals and have two pets (A cat and a dog) that I honestly can't imagine living without. I feel sympathy for them if they cry or if they are sick, and I experience fear if I sense they are in danger. However, if I was born in Yulin China, a community that annually hosts a festival where dog meat is served, perhaps I would not have the emotional attachment to animals that I do have. This would be because I would not have been encouraged to develop this sympathy because the society that I would have belonged to in this example would not attach a sympathetic meaning to dogs as pets.
When we consider the way emotion is understood in a general sense, we are discussing what Damasio would call emotions proper. When explaining what he means by this, he says, "This is where we find the crown-jewel of automated life regulation: emotions in the narrow sense of the term- from joy and sorrow and fear, to pride and shame and sympathy." (Damasio 34) When considering his words and his reductionist view, I think it is plain to see that Damasio is open to the idea that the emotions we attach to certain images and situations are in a significant way in context to the society we belong to and what that society influences us to value. For example, I love animals and have two pets (A cat and a dog) that I honestly can't imagine living without. I feel sympathy for them if they cry or if they are sick, and I experience fear if I sense they are in danger. However, if I was born in Yulin China, a community that annually hosts a festival where dog meat is served, perhaps I would not have the emotional attachment to animals that I do have. This would be because I would not have been encouraged to develop this sympathy because the society that I would have belonged to in this example would not attach a sympathetic meaning to dogs as pets.