When we react to an emotion, according to its intensity, we do not always use objective reasoning. For example, we all know that wearing a helmet when driving a motor-cycle could save your life in the case of an accident, however, the helmet will ruin my new hairstyle and as I am going out to meet a boy I’m really crazy about and want to look really cool, this prevents me from reasoning objectively; I could have an accident and be seriously injured without the helmet, I am just too emotionally intent on impressing this boy, so I go out without the helmet!. Another example of emotions and subjective reasoning is when our emotions create an emotional prejudice. Bertand Russell (1872-1970) said that “The degree of one’s emotions varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts - the less you know, the hotter you get”. By this he means an emotional prejudice where one has a biased perception. In other words, we believe what our emotions tell us to believe instead of knowing all the facts. For example, when an old woman sees a pretty girl who is on her way to a special party and is quite provocatively dressed, but refuses to notice some other girls on their way home from work dressed in trousers and t-shirts, the old lady then uses fallacious reasoning and makes hasty generalizations by saying, “Girls expect to be raped nowadays, just look how they go out dressed, they’re asking for trouble!” When we feel a powerful emotion, that emotion can affect us because we express our internal emotions externally by using irrational language, and we might say things that we do not really mean. When the same old lady’s grand-daughter goes out dressed up to kill, she then says “Oh, you look absolutely beautiful.”
“The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists, indeed the passion is the measure of the holder’s rational conviction.” Bertrund Russel, 1872-1970. We could interpret this to mean that it is better not to have emotions at all, but that is not true. The Stoics wanted a world void of emotions or with apathy, which literary means “without passion”. The Stoics thought that if they could ban emotions out of their lives, then things would be much clearer and more logical for everyone. Without emotions we would not be able to make decisions in everyday life, because every decision carries a level of emotion with it. The decision maker would forever doubt what to do; weighing the pros against the cons. Donald Calne summed this up perfectly when he said “The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to endless conclusions.”. We cannot ban all emotions from our life although it is possible to have better control over emotions.
Emotions are actually closely linked with reason. It is hard sometimes to clearly distinguish between the two. The thoughts that people have are mostly a mixture of reason and emotion. Therefore, some emotions can be rational to a certain extent. As I stated earlier, human emotions consist not only of a physical but also of a mental part. The mental part is related to beliefs, and therefore, when a belief about something changes, so will the emotion that we associate with it. For example, suppose I no-longer like the boy I mentioned before, I don’t care if the helmet ruins my hairstyle so this time I use rational behavior and wear the helmet even though I know the boy will see me when I take it off. Now I could experience relief because reason tells me that if I had had an accident, the helmet could have saved my life!. This example proves that emotions can effect our reason and it is more frequent that emotion is irrational than rational.
In conclusion, the complex problem that arises when trying to answer this question is that it is hard to quantify how much emotions really influence reasoning or if emotion can be rational. In every circumstance no one experiences exactly the same emotions, and no one is affected by their emotions exactly the same way. Emotion can both increase and diminish rational reasoning because they are so closely connected. Emotional coloring by powerful emotions can lead to a biased perception and poor decision making. On the other hand emotions can also help narrow down possibilities when making decisions. Emotions can be rational at times when they are based on a truthful view of reality in specific circumstances. Still, emotions cloud the way that we perceive experiences, and make us see things in an unclear way. Although we should not try to ban emotions like the Stoics wanted, it might be an improvement to have a better control of our emotions. The question that evolves from this essay is how we can achieve rationality and better emotional control without losing the advantages that emotion can bring us.
