Whether Emotions Can Accelerate the Pursuit of Knowledge - Term Paper Example

Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Emotion is a universal vagueness that affects our ability to make decisions. Indeed, emotions affect or determine how we react and approach a task or a situation. Emotions determine when to remain impartial and when to abstain from a given situation. Trust is a common emotion that controls our behaviors and reactions. Arguably, people trust something or someone depending on the available back-up information or evidence. Thus, it is interesting to investigate whether people trust each other based on emotions or evidence. This paper explores how people react to situations that require trust and emotions. This analysis will be based history and human sciences concepts. To examine this issue, “can we know when to trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge?” we need to examine the role of knowledge in determining our ability to pursue knowledge. Alternatively, we examine whether emotions can accelerate the pursuit of knowledge. The two dimensions will clearly define how emotions affect our pursuit of knowledge. By definition, emotions are inherent state of thoughts arising from an immediate circumstance such as mood, or relationships with others. Emotions are characterized by feelings of joy, love, hate, anger, horror. The first question into the analysis is “can we know when to trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge?” this question would be done justice if it is analyzed from a scientific perspective. Thus, an ideal response would examine how our brains process and respond to emotions. Consequently, the analysis will involve a comparative study with other abstract ideas of emotions, such as temperament, mood, motivation, disposition, and personality. According to our scientific understanding of emotions, emotions are caused by hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin noradrenaline, and cortisol. These hormones and neurotransmitters are the fundamental forces of motivation. Ideally, motivation affects other abstract ideas of emotion such as mood. For instance if a person has negative motivation, then they are more likely to have negative mood. Consequently, positive motivation implies positive mood. Moreover, motivation affects our temperament in a similar manner. Thus if a person has negative or positive motivations, then they are likely to have a related state of mind. This analysis indicates that the scientific aspect of emotion is closely associated with the subconscious characteristic of emotion (Smither, and Reilly 44). Scientific evidence indicates that our emotions determine our ability to pursue knowledge. In particular, our state of mind determines our desires and curiosity, which are fundamental in the pursuit of knowledge. For example, more scientific discoveries were made in Europe than they were made in Africa and Latin America. The main idea behind this analogy is motivation, which arises from our very state of mind. Indeed, Africa had resources similar to those in Europe during the era of scientific revolution. However, there was a significant disparity between the two continents with respect to pursuit of knowledge. According to the scientific extrapolation of emotions, Africans lacked emotional motivation. Whether Africans had fewer problems, compared to the Europeans is still a debatable issue. The bottom line is that Europeans had positive emotions while Africans maintained negative views towards pursuit of knowledge. To investigate the question “Can we know when to trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge?” we need to determine the use of emotions in certain situations. The Colorado massacre provides a suitable reference. In that incidence, a psychopathic serial killer walked into a movie theater and opened fire to innocent victims. Obviously, the issue sparked emotions among the people. However, there is a disparity between the families of the victims and other ordinary people. Consequently, survivors of the massacre and the serial killer himself have different emotions. Emotional response depends on how a person is closely associated with a situation. Thus, someone close to the occurrence will have a bigger emotional response; where as someone who is not linked to a situation will have less emotional response. Indeed, people develop emotional response depending on the situation. Therefore, people act dependently depending on the resulting emotional responses. This affects our pursuit of knowledge since different decisions are made depending on the respective state of mind (Shaw 654). In particular, it is impossible to know when to trust emotions in pursuit of knowledge. This is because emotions are not absolute phenomenon. Moreover, there are no definite or universal measures of emotions. This makes emotions an indefinite measure our tendency to pursue knowledge. The fundamental question that follows above analysis is how emotions affect our pursuit of knowledge. This question can be answered through a comparative study of historical accounts. The role of Josef Mengele in the alleged war crimes that were committed during the Nazi regime provides an excellent example. Josef Mengele was a Nazi medical officer who served in a gypsy’s concentration camp. He was known for his hatred towards the gypsies and his use of emotion to perform lethal medical experiments using humans. Mengele mainly concentrated his experiments on genetics and mental endurance. Throughout his activities, Mengele did not show any form of fear or sympathy towards his victims. However, he had concrete ambition on the establishment of a perfect race. Although this is a dark example, it shows that emotions can be a factor in the acquisition of knowledge. Thus, emotions give reasons and motivation to pursue knowledge. Emotions supplement people’s perceptions on situations and hence a determinant of history. An example of when emotion can have an influence on people’s perception is the David Irving vs. Dr. Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Publishing case. Irving was accused of anti-Semitism (racial discrimination targeting the Jews). David Irving was able to make an argument against the holocaust. He claimed that holocaust did not happen, as it is recorded in history. Besides the convincing argument, Irving suggested supportive evidences for his arguments. One of his renowned evidence suggested that there was no any evidence to support a planed extermination of the Jews. However, his evidence was established untrue following the discovery of Wansee Conference proceeding. It is during this conference that top Nazi officials agreed on what became known as the “final solution to the Jewish question.” The evidence was brought up during his trial. Another witness suggested that he used to sing racist songs to his young daughter. Evidently, his racist views made him to visualize things from a different perspective and even affected his reasoning. There was also a consistency in his claims concerning the supposed use of the gas chambers. He argued that the chambers were not meant to cause mass murder as suggested by historians. This suggests that emotions can affect our perception on things and therefore not a perfect source of historical knowledge. It would be irrelevant to trust emotions in pursuit of historical knowledge since we would have different versions of truth. This would be misleading since history is viewed as an absolute truth. In order to respond to the question “Can we know when to trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge? We also need to measure our level of emotions towards knowledge. Scientists separate emotions from reasoning and therefore scientific knowledge is free of emotions. Scientists are taught that emotions can affect the results of an experiment or alter an observation (Smither, and Reilly 44). On the other hand, most political decisions are based on emotions. This implies that the credibility of emotions as a source of knowledge depends on the discipline of study. In my opinion, people should trust emotion in pursuit of knowledge. However, the trust should be dependent on the field of study and circumstance. This will enable us know when to apply emotions in decision-making and to determine the different ethical perspectives that are associated with emotions. Both emotions and trust are abstract ideas formulated in both conscious and unconscious minds. The decision whether to trust emotions should be based on the supposed benefits. For example, the evolution theory is a controversial idea that differentiates views of humanity. The theory is based on concrete examples and factual data. The origin of species is the most controversial aspect of the theory. In pursuit of knowledge, examples and empirical support fails to provide sufficient evidence in support of the theory (Sproul 34). Indeed, the theory is unacceptable among religious and cultural fundamentalists. Despite these inconsistencies, the theory has a significant impact on our emotion. For the theory to have profound effect on biology, history and human anatomy, an element of emotion had to be incorporated. Thus, emotions cannot be eliminated from our pursuit of knowledge. In conclusion, knowledge and emotions are two independent phenomenons. Despite inconsistence that exists between the definitions, pursuit of knowledge is dependent on emotions. However, trust on emotion should be limited towards the study discipline, immediate situations and expected benefits. Unlike history, science does not have a place for emotion. Indeed, emotions always have a negative implication on scientific experiments and reasoning. However, most renowned scientific inventions and discovery were driven by emotions. Consequently, emotions affect historical accounts and it cannot be trusted. Therefore, emotions should be trusted according to the situation and expected outcome. Works cited Smither, James and Reilly, Richard. 2005. Does performance improve following multisource feedback? Personnel Psychology 58: 33-66. Shaw, James. A cognitive categorization model for the study of intercultural management. Academy of Management Review, 15.4 (2004): 626-645. Sproul, Cason. The Consequences of Ideas. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010. Print. Read More