RE: Does the head follow the heart in matters of truth?
March 15, 2018 at 7:44 pm
(This post was last modified: March 15, 2018 at 7:59 pm by Whateverist.)
(March 15, 2018 at 4:27 pm)Tizheruk Wrote: It is irrational to allow their heart to override their heads . Reality is it's own reward and falsehoods only get in the way of true happiness . Beta is desperately to drag us down into the pit he's dug himself . And excuse himself of his own faults by pretending all share them . Thou this is an interesting subject even without religious connotation as it pertains to so many ideas . But really that's my overall opinion on the matter .
So you're playing favorites, your head over your heart. It may be irrational to allow the heart to override the head, but isn't it also heartless to let the head boss it around?
(March 15, 2018 at 6:05 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: Over the entrance to his academy, Plato had a sign which read, "Let no one ignorant of geometry pass through these gates." I think it is important to consider things like mathematics when we compare logic to emotion. Math is purely logical. That's pretty clear, isn't it? Math doesn't allow for one's feelings to enter into its processes. Nobody gets emotional over an equation... even word problems... we don't really care about the contents of the word problem, we just look for the logically relevant parts.
In the same way, as Khem pointed out earlier, logic attempts to afford us a vision of the world unobscured by the fog of our emotions.
I've had my mind changed by logical arguments. The question is: were these arguments really appealing to my logical sense?-- or were they merely playing on my emotional affinity for the conclusion? After some reflection, I would have to say the former, at least in most cases that come to mind.
I short, attempting to be logical is to try to bring mathematical precision into one's assessment of the world. It is putting the emotional sense in check.
What makes Alpha's statement so powerful is that, deep down, we trust our hearts more. We want our emotions to be right. When logic confirms what we intuit emotionally, we experience a sense of triumph. When logic disproves something in which we have an emotional investment, we experience a sense of loss.
So, yes, we are essentially emotional beings. Emotion is a great force within us and makes up more of who we are than our logical selves. I'd like to mention Plato again, because he was quite aware of this aspect in human beings. In his allegory of the chariot, he likened the human psyche to a chariot. The two horses of the chariot represent desire and emotion. The charioteer represents logic. To Plato, a wise individual is one who's logical part learns how to steer the tempramental horses effectively. Embedded in Plato's allegory is the notion that our emotion and desire are far stronger in us than logic and reason. Logic cannot power the chariot into forward motion like desire and emotion can. But, nonetheless, unless our desire and emotion is "reined in" and "kept on a path" our lives will utterly lack direction and easily stray off course. So it is with the pursuit of truth.
I wonder if, as atheists, we favor the head over the heart as the only sort of transcendence available to us. No spirit body, no heaven, no reincarnation but we can ascend to the high perch of reason and from there look back and judge our lowly animal nature. Me, I'm a romantic. I embrace my mammal nature which just so happens in our case to allow for a capacity to reason. Reason is a good thing but not the best thing IMHO. I'd prefer my transcendence to come by way of inspired flights of poesy than dull, plodding steps of logic. Life is a dance, not a word problem.
(March 15, 2018 at 6:31 pm)notimportant1234 Wrote: In the matter of loving sweets, what is there to folow other than the heart?
Just remember to floss and brush regularly, and mind your blood sugar.
