Emotion vs. Logic

Post-Publish EDIT: Yeah, it’s a day late because I set it to post 24 hours after writing it, which I expected to be eleven PM on Friday. I missed that in writing it that the time was now 00:03 on Friday, making it post today, Saturday. My bad,  feel free to spam me with derogatory comments.

Another argument I frequently face when discussing what seperates Humans from other animals is, put simply, emotion. People place our emotions on some kind of pedestal, giving them fantastic qualities. The soul, or whatever, when in reality emotions are simply biological and chemical reactions, evolutionary developments which we have given names and far too much meaning.

Take anger, for example. What possible evolutionary advantage could be gained from this? It helps us to power through problems, or – more importantly – to defend ourselves and defeat opponents. Anger induces a release of a lot of chemicals, which when combined increase our stamina and strength. It enables us to fight harder when threatened or to regain something that belonged to us.

Rather than go through every emotion imaginable here, I’ll skip to the “special” one. Love.

Love. Is not. Special.

It is not some fantastic, otherworldly sense. It is a series of chemical reactions throughout your body, a series of different events which we have termed love. Does this make it any less wonderful? No, of course not, in the same way that breaking anger down to what it is does not make it any less terrifying to be on the receiving end of. Love was evolved to enforce the protection of our species, of our mates, of our children. We protect them and give them a chance to develop into their own mature creatures, and to ensure that the next generation comes first, love was a necessary adaptation. It’s the same for partners. The man protects the woman because, biologically, he is usually stronger and she is necessary for reproduction.

And all the affectionate things we do when in love? Kissing, hugging and so forth? All acts which serve a purpose. Getting close gives your subconscious to examine your siginificant other and establish whether he/she is a suitable mate. Kissing trades saliva, which can lead to an examination of the immune system. It’s an extremely complex series of actions, subconscious decisions and biological input which all works together to ensure our survival. And, for simplicity’s sake we call it all the one name.

I’m not decrying these things, not saying oh they’re solely mechanical. Well, I am, but it doesn’t make it any less exciting to be in love. I know, I’ve been there. But just the same as knowing how a plane works it doesn’t make it any less amazing to watch a hundred ton metal tube fly through the air.

3 Responses to “Emotion vs. Logic”

1. Diff.Thinkr says:

   December 13, 2009 at 3:16 pm

   Just watch any good documentary and I’m sure you’ll be amply convinced that love is certainly not an emotion that separates men and “beast” (as we call them). I would say unnecessary provocations, war and violence would be more appropriate criteria. Oh, by the way, men are better at ‘making these’ than animals. That way , men could be called better than them
   Diff.Thinkr´s last blog ..Forget not thy root

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2. Diff.Thinkr says:

   December 13, 2009 at 3:27 pm

   Pls send me your email, @ diff.thinkr@gmail.com
   I hav smthing to say…..
   Diff.Thinkr´s last blog ..Forget not thy root

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3. Diff.Thinkr says:

   December 22, 2009 at 4:30 am

   Check out the new post…
   I’ve give you a link….
   Diff.Thinkr´s last blog ..Are we better?

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