Post by meka on Nov 3, 2017 19:31:16 GMT
Who can have feelings?
Damasio suggests that in order to experience feelings:
- an organism has to have a nervous system
- the nervous system has to be able to map body structures and states and transform the neural patterns in those maps onto mental patterns or images
- the organism has to be conscious or aware of its feelings
- the brain of an organism that feels creates the very body states that evoke feelings
An organism has to have a nervous system in order to feel because you cannot feel without one.
You take in the incoming signals through the nervous system. It is like a pathway. The nervous system takes the stimuli you encounter and sends it to the brain that says what it is.
The organism has to be able to identify where the sensory information is coming from, like feeling pain from a specific spot on your right arm.
The third requirement is that an organism has to be conscious and aware of its feelings. A rock does not have a nervous system and is not conscious or aware, so it can not have feelings. Plants can feel the sun beating on them but they don't have feelings. They do not have a nervous system and they are not self-aware. Mammals, like orcas, dolphins and dogs, have nervous systems, they can map out where they're being hurt and what they are feeling (e.g., a dog soothing its right paw that was hurt), they can grieve, they can show that they are happy or depressed, and if they see danger they can respond with either or fight or flight. Humans can feel because we have a nervous system that goes through the body, that can experience a stimuli, that can identify what that stimuli is, that can identify where it is coming from, we can assign it meaning, and thinking about something in a certain way can lead us to a body state change that creates a feeling (e.g., worrying about a possible difficult situation).
The above requirements illustrate Damasio's connection between feelings and the process of evolution by showing how we are evolving as organisms. He says emotions came first and feelings later through evolution. Not every organism meets the requirements of having feelings. Feelings help us to prepare, avoid danger and live longer.
Meka
Damasio suggests that in order to experience feelings:
- an organism has to have a nervous system
- the nervous system has to be able to map body structures and states and transform the neural patterns in those maps onto mental patterns or images
- the organism has to be conscious or aware of its feelings
- the brain of an organism that feels creates the very body states that evoke feelings
An organism has to have a nervous system in order to feel because you cannot feel without one.
You take in the incoming signals through the nervous system. It is like a pathway. The nervous system takes the stimuli you encounter and sends it to the brain that says what it is.
The organism has to be able to identify where the sensory information is coming from, like feeling pain from a specific spot on your right arm.
The third requirement is that an organism has to be conscious and aware of its feelings. A rock does not have a nervous system and is not conscious or aware, so it can not have feelings. Plants can feel the sun beating on them but they don't have feelings. They do not have a nervous system and they are not self-aware. Mammals, like orcas, dolphins and dogs, have nervous systems, they can map out where they're being hurt and what they are feeling (e.g., a dog soothing its right paw that was hurt), they can grieve, they can show that they are happy or depressed, and if they see danger they can respond with either or fight or flight. Humans can feel because we have a nervous system that goes through the body, that can experience a stimuli, that can identify what that stimuli is, that can identify where it is coming from, we can assign it meaning, and thinking about something in a certain way can lead us to a body state change that creates a feeling (e.g., worrying about a possible difficult situation).
The above requirements illustrate Damasio's connection between feelings and the process of evolution by showing how we are evolving as organisms. He says emotions came first and feelings later through evolution. Not every organism meets the requirements of having feelings. Feelings help us to prepare, avoid danger and live longer.
Meka