Emotion

Emotions have often been categorized and evaluated, but much rarely has Emotion been analyzed. The prototypical effort in that direction came from Spinoza, who believed that the basic human drive of self-preservation aims to continuing the existence of what strengthens it, and to eliminate what weakens it. An 'Emotion' is thus an idea of this aim in specific circumstances, e. g. 'Love' is one's idea of continuing the existence of something that strengthens one, 'Hate' is that of something that weakens, and the other emotions are combinations of these. But as conducive to one's well-being as a condition like Love might be, an Emotion is in itself still a condition of weakness, according to Spinoza. For, it is at best a reactive state, one that is dependent on something external. Sartre develops this point further, by arguing that emotions are fundamentally thwarted actions, namely reactions that are undischarged, e. g. hate is obliteration that is not carried out. Thus, as Nietzsche suggests, the only counter to an emotion is another emotion, e. g. fear of consequences countering hate, but never Reason, which is not a counter to Emotion, but rather merely a condition of harmony amongst emotions. On this analysis, someone who is in perfect harmony within themselves and with their environment is unemotional, while any displayed emotion is an expression of either inner or outer disjointedness. Thus, the glorification of Emotion for its own sake seems not merely misguided, but for therapeutic purposes, potentially harmful.