Emotions are complicated, so much so that one does not know where they fit in the various faculties of the mind, and which of these should one take to be essential. The various sensory, physiological, behavioural, cognitive and social phenomenon typically correspond with emotions.
Emotions have long been a matter of considerable dispute among philosophers, biologists and sociologists. They have been treated differently through the course of time, but no one has ever been able to reach any consensus. One of the best ways to understand the nature and cause of emotions is to either go through the books of sciences, philosophy, theological treatise, or great epics and dramatic poems, novels and plays and biographies and history.
As Francis Bacon puts it: “Poets and history writers are the best doctors of this knowledge, where we may find painted forth with great life; how affections are kindled and incited; and how pacified and refrained; and how again contained from act and further degree; how they disclose themselves; how they work; how they vary; how they gather and fortify; how they are enwrapped one with another; and how they do fight and encounter one with another; and other like particularities.”
Long before the dawn of civilization, Man began to express himself through emotions. Right from the beginning of human history and up to the present, historians reveal that the history of art and literature is full of emotions. Whether it is Homer’s epic poem or Shakespeare’s tragedy or Wordsworth’s love of nature, at no point can one find missing emotions.
Emotions are also not limited to art and literature. In earlier centuries, the analysis of emotions occur in other contexts as well. It occurs in certain dialogues of Plato and Aristotle’s Rhetoric, in the Greek discussion of virtue and vice, in the moral theology of Aquinas and even in the books of political theories such as Machiavelli’s The Prince and the Hobb’s Leviathan.
In the 17th century, Spinoza, a great continental rationalist philosopher, provides the longest list of human emotions. He maintains that all humans emotions spring from desires, joys and sorrows, that later develop into the following forms: astonishment, contempt, love, hatred, inclination, aversion, devotion, derision, hope, fear, confidence, gladness, remorse, commiseration, favour, indignation, over-estimation, envy, compassion, self-satisfaction, humility, repentance, pride, despondency, self-exaltation, shame, regret, emulation, gratitude, benevolence, anger, vengeance, ferocity, audacity, consternation, courtesy, ambition, luxuriousness, drunkenness, avarice and lust.
Before the advent of modern science, the ground of interpretation was different from what we have now. We now customarily think of emotions as belonging to the subject matter of psychology, a science of animal and human behaviour. The work of Charles Darwin, William James and Sigmund Freud has helped to interpret the same phenomenon of emotions from a different angle.
Psychologically speaking, emotions are a response of the whole organism involving physical arousal, expressive behaviour and conscious experience. Psychologists tend to think that when we are emotionally aroused, we are physically aroused. Emotional experiences seem to involve an awareness of widespread bodily commotion, including changes in the tension of the blood vessels and muscles, changes in heartbeat and breathing, in the condition of skin and the other tissues. We experience emotions, psychologists believe, due to certain chemical changes or imbalances that determine our emotions. For instance, when we experience emotions, our respiratory rate increases, digestion slows, pupils dilate, body perspire more and if the body is wounded, blood clots more quickly.
In case of expressive behaviour, one can read the other’s body language, listen to the changing voices and can look at the face. This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to recognize emotions.
One of the most difficult ways to understand emotions is to understand them through conscious experience. One’s attempt to understand another’s emotions through conscious experience may be misleading.
In short, conscious experiences are obscure and confused. Some psychologists believe that there are three basic conscious experiences — fear, anger and happiness. These later develop into further subconscious experiences such as joy, interest, excitement, surprise, sadness, disgust, shame, guilt, etc. All these psychological conditions vary from emotions to emotions, and are never the same or equal because some are more violent than others.
Whatever the nature or cause of emotions, it is obvious that emotions are uncontrollable and rebellious. They rise and vanish within us. They have their own will and do what they will. They sometimes make meaningless objects meaningful and vice versa. They drive us frantic and inflame our hearts with never-ending desires. We are slaves of our emotions and can never escape them.
