ToK - Emotion

1. What do you think of when you hear the word ‘Emotion’? ToK - Emotion

2. ToK - Emotion An enemy of reason? or An important precondition for knowledge?

3. “We think and name in one world, we live and feel in another” Marcel Proust “Nothing great is accomplished in the world without passion” Hegel ToK - Emotion

4. Emotion (noun) A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling ToK - Emotion

5. How are you feeling now, at this moment? How do you know? Why do you think you are feeling this way? ToK - Emotion

6. Knowing emotion through perception ToK - Emotion How does she feel? How do you know? The title is ‘Absinthe’ Does that affect your interpretation of the picture?

7. Happiness Sadness Fear Anger Surprise Disgust ToK - Emotion

8. What are emotions for? To what extent are we able to control our emotions? Which emotion is the hardest to control? ToK - Emotion

9. Emotions as an obstacle to knowledge • Perception – ‘love is blind’? • Reason – ‘my theory right or wrong!’ • Language – use of slanted language ToK - Emotion

10. Rationalisations Biased Perception ToK - Emotion Powerful Emotions Fallacious Reasoning Experiences Emotive Language

11. Emotions as a source of knowledge Have you ever been in a situation where you had to choose between two equally attractive options? How did you come to a decision? ToK - Emotion

12. What role do you think is usually played by reason and emotion when people decide which universities to apply to? What role do you think each of these should play? ToK - Emotion

13. The relation between emotion and reason ToK - Emotion Emotion Reason Furious Getting annoyed Solving a maths problem

14. Anyone can be angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way – that is not easy. Aristotle ToK - Emotion

15. Paul has arranged to meet Tom at 3pm. Tom arrives at 3.02pm and apologises for being late. Rather than accept the apology, Paul starts screaming and shouting about Tom’s lack of consideration and completely loses his self-control. The hospital phones Jane with terrible news. Her husband has been assaulted and is lying unconscious in Intensive Care. “Oh dear”, she says, “that is annoying! I was hoping to play tennis this afternoon, but I suppose I had better come and visit him.” Showing too little emotion is, perhaps, as irrational as showing too much ToK - Emotion

16. We all experience irrational emotions but, since it is difficult to switch them off, we may find it easier to adjust our beliefs to our emotions than bring our emotions into line with reason. ToK - Emotion

17. Intuition • Core intuitions - our most fundamental intuitions about life the universe and everything ToK - Emotion

18. Intuition • Subject-specific intuitions – the intuitions we have in various areas of knowledge such as science and ethics • Educated Intuition • ‘Eureka!’ moments ToK - Emotion

19. Intuition • Social intuitions – our intuitions about other people, what they are like, whether or not they can be trusted etc ToK - Emotion Which smile is ‘real’?

20. Intuition • We sometimes appeal to intuition to justify our knowledge claims in various areas of knowledge about which we perhaps know little, but research suggests that such ‘uneducated’ intuitions should be treated with caution. ToK - Emotion

21. Imagine that you are presented with a special gift: a machine - the “Happiness Machine” – that can give you wonderfully positive emotions. All you have to do is hook yourself up ... and switch it on. But there’s a price: once the machine is switched on, you will not remember anything that happened before switching on the machine. Ever again. Do you want to switch the machine on? Why? ToK - Emotion