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user-inactivated  ·  1991 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The magical thinking of guys who love logic

Interesting share. In all honesty, the article wasn't at all what I thought it was gonna be about going in, but it does have some good points.

If I were to speak in more general terms, like "feelings" versus "logic," I think there's quite a few things to consider, most importantly being that they're complimentary to each other.

For example, when we're navigating through life, assessing situations, and making decisions (especially on an immediate and short term basis) we can't always rely on an internalized flow chart full of if/then statements to help us out. Using emotion and intuition help us make decisions quickly and effectively.

Similarly, sometimes a certain scenario seems one way on paper, but in real life seems completely different. While it's important to approach and analyze situations with care and consideration, we can't forget how we feel about a situation is important information to keep in mind. Our feelings might be off, sure, but if they don't line up with logic then that's a sure sign that whatever we're looking at deserves further consideration.

Lastly, strong feelings of any type, whether they're positive or negative, can be taken as kind of warning signs. If your living situation or work situation are making you unhappy for example, and you don't know why, that feeling of unhappiness needs to be recognized and then you need to go about figuring out what's causing those feelings and how you can go about changing things to alleviate them.

In regards to this article, one of the things I find most interesting about people with very strong thoughts on subjects, left and right, and want to appeal to logic and reason is that they often say that appeals to emotion in discussions are invalid. This strikes me as interesting for two reasons. One, a lot of them won't hesitate to express anger, indignation, or use emotionally charged words. If appeals to emotions aren't valid, then why do they let themselves get so overwhelmed with negative emotions when making arguments? Secondly though, is that sometimes appeals to emotions, especially positive emotions, are the best way to drive points home. There are so many speeches out there that touch on subjects such as dignity, compassion and sympathy, a sense of justice and fair mindedness, hope and joy and inspiration, all to drive points home and motivate and inspire people. There's nothing wrong with using appeals of emotion to make arguments, because emotions are a central part of the human experience. What is important though, is that when we look at emotional appeals, is that we consider the emotional content involved and whether or not it lines up with logic, and ultimately, reality.