Ayn Rand Philosophy, Objectivism, Science, Self-interest

[a500lbgorilla]

Regarding emotions: I forget if this is something explicitly covered in one of Ayn Rand's non-fiction books or something I cobbled together on my own, but...

Emotions are essentially hardwired reflexes. Certain input (external stimuli, maybe just internal thoughts) triggers those reflexes, which causes emotions and then causes a cascade of mental and physiological effects (fight/flight response, panic attack, depression, etc.).

Those hardwired paths can be changed, with effort. You can get over your irrational fears. You can learn psychological techniques to control your panic attacks. You can deal with your own mental issues and improve your anger issues. Ultimately, you can use reason to make your emotions more useful to you.

But emotions are not a substitute for reason or reality. Your emotional response to a situation could be totally irrational and inappropriate.

So there is a problem if you're acting solely on emotions without any basis on reality or reason. If your actions only impact yourself, then that's a bad thing for you but ultimately within your rights. It becomes a problem when people project their emotions onto the decisions of other people, which has become commonplace: "You offended me, therefore you need to be punished." That implies that emotions are valid realities, regardless of how reasonable those emotions/realities actually are.

There's also a problem if you pretend that you're acting on reason fully divorced from emotions. As difficultly as those pathways could be changed, those neurons won't migrate, and they won't degenerate. And for all the new connects that you're making to find waylays and detours around those emotional centers, their dendrites and axons will only grow so long. And that's ignoring all the key-pass chemicals that rush into the brain from time to time, all those hare-trigger hormones that a fired off to keep you safe from tigers and get you ready to validate your purpose.

Don't pretend that you can separate yourself from the world, your body, and what it needs to do to survive.

[NightGizmo]

There's also a problem if you pretend that you're acting on reason fully divorced from emotions. As difficultly as those pathways could be changed, those neurons won't migrate, and they won't degenerate. And for all the new connects that you're making to find waylays and detours around those emotional centers, their dendrites and axons will only grow so long. And that's ignoring all the key-pass chemicals that rush into the brain from time to time, all those hare-trigger hormones that a fired off to keep you safe from tigers and get you ready to validate your purpose.

Don't pretend that you can separate yourself from the world, your body, and what it needs to do to survive.

I agree with you.

Ayn Rand was arguing against the primacy of emotions and for the primacy of reason. Emotions are not reality; your goal is to use your rational faculty to the best of your ability.

[a500lbgorilla]

I agree with you.

Ayn Rand was arguing against the primacy of emotions and for the primacy of reason. Emotions are not reality; your goal is to use your rational faculty to the best of your ability.

Emotions definitely inform your reality.

I remember coming into work, I woke up angry, I was angry in the shower, and I opened up an email that read something like, "Oh hey, I see your work, where's the rest of it?"

And I was pissed because this motherfucker was taking a go at me for providing him with sufficient but not perfect work.

Thankfully, I went around the office and asked after this character and found out that he was a sarcastic jagoff and realized he was just having a go. In that new spirit I was able meet him and his needs more ably than if I were left to my initial sense.

For me, it's a revelation to see how it is that your current emotional state and your current surroundings inform how you think and how you express yourself.

There will never be a primacy of reason, because I honestly believe we are misers of our critical faculties, because I know I am and I assume everyone follows a similar mold.

[wufwugy]

There will never be a primacy of reason

Does not choosing to work itself show primacy of reason? Does not choosing to slog through four years of college to get a special piece of paper show primacy of reason?

[JKDS]

Does not choosing to work itself show primacy of reason? Does not choosing to slog through four years of college to get a special piece of paper show primacy of reason?

Emotions heavily guide both of these decisions. Depression and hopelessness is key to ppl choosing to give up a job search. Given how many ppl go to college for not "in demand" degrees and how many dont study very hard, emotion is likely the driving factor here too.

[wufwugy]

Emotions heavily guide both of these decisions. Depression and hopelessness is key to ppl choosing to give up a job search. Given how many ppl go to college for not "in demand" degrees and how many dont study very hard, emotion is likely the driving factor here too.

I suspect that primacy of reason doesn't discount emotional influence.