Do rational fears exist?

[CleanShavenJesus]

Do rational fears exist, or are they all irrational?

For example, I say that it is silly to fear plane crashes, while others would call it normal and logical and suffer from that fear, despite the extremely low number of plane crashes/plane malfunctions that occur around the world each year.

[NoraBrimstone]

Most fears are rational.

[TromboneAtheist]

I mean, isn't it always irrational to have fear? It serves it's purpose for Humans, to keep us from danger, but fear, in itself, seems kind of irrational. What will happen, will happen, regardless of how much,or if you fear.

[Jackalope]

Is it irrational to fear harm when the threat of immediate harm is present?

What will happen, will happen, regardless of how much, or if you fear.

Not necessarily, if that fear leads you to act in a way that you would not have acted in the absence of fear.

[NoraBrimstone]

A fear of heights will keep you from getting close enough to the edge of a cliff to fall off and die. Fear of spiders and snakes will keep you from approaching one that may be venomous and lethal. Fear of the dark will make you more aware of your surroundings so you would be more likely to spot a potential predator. Fear of deep water could stop you from falling in and drowning. And so on. Fears tend to have a function.
I have many irrational fears myself (like sheep and moths/butterflies) so I'm well aware that they do exist, but your everyday fears are generally rational ones.

[CleanShavenJesus]

A fear of heights will keep you from getting close enough to the edge of a cliff to fall off and die. Fear of spiders and snakes will keep you from approaching one that may be venomous and lethal. Fear of the dark will make you more aware of your surroundings so you would be more likely to spot a potential predator. Fear of deep water could stop you from falling in and drowning. And so on. Fears tend to have a function.

But there are millions (if not billions) of people who don't have fears of any of those things. Why don't they, as opposed to someone else who does? Besides, your examples can easily be expressed as irrational fears, especially considering how and when people with those fears express them.

We know (well, depending on where you live) that spiders that we encounter on a daily basis are not harmful to us. Heights should not be an issue if you are safe and secure (and in many cases of those with fears of heights, it applies to any situation where they are far up, even if there is zero chance of them falling). We all fear the dark if we are in a place we've never been (though I don't see that as a fear of the dark as much as it is a fear of the place you are. The darkness is just maximizing it because you don't know your surroundings in the first place). But many people who are afraid of the dark are afraid of darkness regardless of where they are, including their own home that they know well enough to be able to walk in without a light. And what is the fear of deep water serve if we are able to swim?

[paulpablo]

Do rational fears exist, or are they all irrational?

For example, I say that it is silly to fear plane crashes, while others would call it normal and logical and suffer from that fear, despite the extremely low number of plane crashes/plane malfunctions that occur around the world each year.

I think whenever a fear isn't rational its a phobia, technically, as for every single fear out there whether or not they are rational is a difficult question because there's a vast spectrum of fears.
The fear of plane crashes is illogical but it's completely logical that we would have these fears as part of the evolution of our brain.
It's only been in the last hundred years or so mankind has been able to fly though the air at such high speeds in what is basically a metal container blasted from one continent to another so our brains still aren't used to the fact that is safe.

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This thread is FUCKING fascinating by the way. I love stuff that involves evolution of the brain. You were talking about spiders and snakes and how this fear could easily be irrational because we see spiders on a day to day basis that aren't dangerous. But for millions of years spiders and snakes were deadly to us as a species.
I was listening to an audio book recently that talked about this exact same sort of thing but it was about why women sometimes seem to like guys who are very bad for them, something to do with the fact that for millions of years the best guy for them to breed with was always the most aggressive male, and even though some aggressive traits are logically seen as bad, the female brain still reacts positively to some things that are logically bad but that their brain has evolved to see as good . The audio book also mentioned something about how birds do this same sort of thing, even if they have been bred on an island without birds of prey they still have it evolved in their brains to recognize and be afraid of birds of prey.
So again i would say SOME fears are illogical but it's still logical as to why we would have these fears. And some which obviously aren't logical at all which are called phobias, when guys are deadly afraid of drain pipes or whatever.

[Something completely different]

I would consider my fear of this dog and runing away from it very rational.
Probably even the most rational thing I could do.

[CleanShavenJesus]

I would consider my fear of this dog and runing away from it very rational.
Probably even the most rational thing I could do.

I'm actually cracking up laughing at what website that photo came from.

You may have a point here, but perhaps we could group fears like this one together. Because fear of the dark, spiders, water, all still seem irrational for the reasons I posted before.

[Something completely different]

I actualy know a person who collects, photographs, cooks and eats spiders who told me that fear of spiders has something to do with the 8 legs and that these supposedly fuck with us and make us fear spiders.
I think fear of dark is something easily explained since it probably has something to do with our instincts. Did you know that when we seat ourselves in a room we always look for the spot from which we can overlook most of the room? - I guess fear of dark is releated to that instict of keeping a "overview".

Fear of water probably releates to fear of drowning - but I guess it can have something to do with trauma.
I am affraid of hights because I had a pritty nasty falling expirience as a little child. And I actualy think that all irrational fears are the result of trauma or other memorable expiriences.

Other than that, I dont think of most fears to be irrational.

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plus: I simply googled "angry dog". And I am not even going to look up which page that image is from