Re: Emotions "vestigial"? was Re: On being Extropian

Ira Brodsky (ibrodsky@ix9.ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 20 Oct 1996 10:30:01 -0600


QueeneMUSE@aol.com wrote:

>Ian says:
>>You falsely divide the world into "logic" and "emotion." What about
>knowledge? Yes, "with logic alone you can [only] calculate outcomes from
>premises." Likewise, with emotion alone you can only react.>
>
>No, with emotion you can create. You can generate. You can luminate. With
>emotions you can fulfill and enrichen. You can move and you can soar. Passive
>reacting is a kind of limited way of knowing how one feels. : o )
>Of course one can't always help having reactive ones, but that is not
>indicative of a finely tuned set of emotions. In a well balanced, non
>reactive type B person, most emotions are useful, some of them are
>essential, and many are helpful and well suited to the task at hand. If
>emotions have a bad rap in the world, it is precisely because people think
>they are at the mercy of them... probably because it's real hard work ( and
>it takes honesty, not just a bunch of hours at a keyboard or board meeting)
>to do the homework to integrate them successfuly.

First, my name is Ira, not Ian.

I think what you are really saying is that, contrary to Bertrand Russell,
emotions can be a good thing *if* they are tamed by reason and
understanding.

In that case, we agree.

Ira Brodsky
Datacomm Research Company
Wilmette, Illinois