Emotion

Emotions are reactions to our feelings.

-- Google LaMDA AI

I've been saying this for years, but almost nobody understands it.

-- Jason Grant, July 2022

No aspect of our mental life is more important to the quality and meaning of our existence than emotions.

-- Ronald de Sousa, 2000 or 2013, plato.stanford.edu

from esmovoir to set in motion, move the feelings

-- American Heritage Dictionary

Emotion emerges as an embodied or embodying, adaptive process—both a product of perception and a potential bridge to transcendence—interpreted and managed through varied cultural and biological lenses. Regarding humans, "emotion," is a term that can refer to a concept encompasses a range of psychological states—such as joy, anger, fear, and sadness—that integrate cognitive, physiological, and behavioral components. Emotion can be defined as a transient, multifaceted state of consciousness that arises from the interaction of the mind, body, and environment, characterized by subjective feelings, physiological responses, and cognitive appraisals.

Historical traces of associated with the notion of the study of emotion emerge across cultures: ancient Indian texts like the Rasas in aesthetic theory link emotions to experiential qualities, Chinese Confucian thought examines emotions like li (propriety) in moral contexts, and Aristotle in ancient Greece analyzes emotions as responses tied to belief and evaluation, as in his Rhetoric. Over centuries, emotion’s conceptualization evolved—medieval thinkers like Aquinas framed it within a soul-body nexus, while modern philosophy saw Descartes and Spinoza treat emotions as mechanistic or rational processes, respectively. Contemporary accounts, enriched by psychology and neuroscience, distinguish emotions as adaptive mechanisms involving bodily feedback (James-Lange theory), cognitive appraisals (Lazarus), or social constructs (Averill), with debates persisting over their universality versus cultural specificity and their interplay with reason, as seen in affective science’s exploration of neural correlates and phenomenological experience.

In the 21st century, scientific inquiry into animal emotion has surged, driven by advances in neuroscience, ethology, and behavioral studies, shifting away from the 20th-century behaviorist skepticism that dismissed animal feelings as unmeasurable. Researchers like Jaak Panksepp have been pivotal, identifying seven core emotional systems in mammals—seeking, fear, rage, lust, care, panic, and play—rooted in shared limbic brain structures, suggesting emotions evolved for survival across species. Studies using cognitive bias tests, which assess optimism or pessimism (e.g., in rats, dogs, and honeybees), and physiological markers like oxytocin levels or heart rate variability, have shown animals experience subjective states akin to human emotions. For instance, elephants mourn their dead, crows hold grudges, and octopuses display pain responses, supported by a 2021 review from the London School of Economics recognizing sentience in certain invertebrates. However, debates persist over whether these behaviors reflect conscious feelings or instinctual responses, with relativity across species—mammals showing more complexity than insects—highlighting both continuity with humans and ecological specialization, as explored in interdisciplinary efforts blending lab data, field observations, and AI-driven analyses of vocalizations and facial expressions.

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Rhizomata

• Feeling; Thought; Mental state; Mind; Thought; Reason; Psychology
• Mental state; Internal state; Emotional state

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