A Comparison Between William James' and Jean Paul Sartre's Points of View on Emotions

In this essay, I will attempt to explain why Sartre argues that emotions are transformations of the world in his book, “A sketch for the Theory of the Emotions”. According to Sartre, an emotion is a response to a situation, an interaction with the world. Emotions control the way we act under certain circumstances and in certain situations, which is our behaviour, and we feel like we have no control. However, although we blame our behaviour on our emotions (“I hit that man because I was angry”) Sartre argues that we are actively in control of our emotions. But emotions need stimuli to occur, they do not just happen. We may be control of our emotions, but an event or situation is still the reason we feel emotions. As I will show in this

Solomon continues to explain that emotions are situational choices by highlighting the possibility to not experience a feeling, regardless of external stimuli. According to Solomon, if

Let’s begin to examine what Jagger’s method of investigative dispassionate belief means. Jagger realizes that emotion, like sensory observation is ignored or not taken into consideration in western epistemology. Jagger believes however, that emotions are needed for human survival and thus, emotions have an essential and useful value and “without emotion, human life would be unthinkable”. (pp.190, Jagger)

In chapter seven, it talks about emotions which are internal sensations that are shaped by physiology, perceptions, language, and social experiences. It is said that we feel emotions when external stimuli cause a physiological change in our bodies. For example, before and while giving my identity presentation, I felt anxious and nervous. I knew this because I was sweating, light-headed, and my stomach was turning. Another example for me would be whenever I get extremely mad because it feels like my whole body is on fire.

Perceptual view of emotions is also also called appraisal theory and asserts that subjective perceptions shape what external phenomena mean to us.  These events have no meaning and they only gain meaning if we attribute significance to them.

Attempts to define “emotion” have proved to be rather difficult. Instead of searching for a comprehensive definition, Gross (2011) describes the three core features of emotions. First, emotions occur when an individual decides that a situation is relevant to his or her goals. Second, emotions are multi-faceted, and involve both subjective and physiological experiences, as well as behaviors. The third feature involves the authoritative nature of emotions. They have the powerful ability to interrupt ongoing processes, assert their priority over other activities, and force their way into awareness. For example, some traditions describe emotions as “disorganized interruptions of mental activity” (Salovey & Mayer, 1989). Emotions are such an

William James believes that our emotions are caused by bodily reactions in which then promotes the mental feeling of the emotion. For example, James says that we feel sad because we cry, rather than we crying because we feel said (65). Too, James states that we are not born to be afraid, sad or anything, but as life progresses, humans and animals eventually discover these feelings toward a particular situation or object (68). It also occurs that even if a person does not express their emotion externally, their body tends to act in a way regardless of how the person expresses their emotions externally. An example of this is what James says when an individual is depressed, “the flexors tend to prevail” (69). Of course, In William James’ time,

Abstract: According to the article “Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett explains how emotions are made” our brain would have to work hard to construct an emotion. You would take a long time to describe it. Hence sometimes people find difficulties to figure out what they are feeling or sometimes they think that they are not feeling anything.

Emotion is defined as a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. The readers of “Renascence” are given a key into the state of mind of the author and what she comes to realize by the end of the story. An instance in which her emotions are apparent is when she writes:

“ Emotionless, that’s how I feel. Devoid of everything held dear. Changes neither perception nor direction, no matter how far or near. I go back to the things I know in the vain hope that it will lift me, breath life into me, give me a rush, help me and fill me. Nevertheless, what is left? I am emotionless that is how I feel.”

Anthony Damasio’s: Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain introduces the reader to the interesting world of emotions. Before reading this book, one probably did not pay much attention to the science and philosophy behind emotion. In fact, few people would likely be able to properly describe and define emotion. Damasio, though, demonstrates that emotions are central to the life-regulating processes of almost all living creatures. Damásio presents the” somatic-marker hypothesis” a proposed mechanism by which emotions guide behavior and decision-making, and positing that rationality requires emotional input.

Chapter 3 of Poetic Justice written by Martha C. Nussbaum is about rational emotions. Emotions can be described as a feeling that derives from one’s circumstances, mood or relationship with others. The literature writer understands that by incorporating emotion like fear, sorrow, sympathy, anger and joy can make a book more interesting to read. Without the emotion element, the writer needs to rewrite the plot and reshape the characters to unfold the story. However, many philosophies have a debate about emotions and emotional objection can be classified into four large families, each with its own meaning.

Researchers have debated about the phenomenon with emotions. Debates on this topic have and will continue to for many more years. Researchers have attempted to understand why one has emotions and came up with the five different theories. The first theory is the James-Lange theory, which argues that an event can cause physiological arousal first and, it can be interpret this as an arousal. Second theory is the Cannon-Bard theory that argues that all humans experience a physiological arousal and an emotional one at the same time. It still does not give any attention to the role of the thoughts or an outward

Myers was a professor of philosophy and the philosopher in residence at the American Dance Festival. He was an expert on a few of William James writing. Myers work was intended for a broader audience. After reading his journal article on James’s Emotion it was concluded that Myers was trying to get a vivid understanding by comparing and contrasting various theories definition of emotion and came up with the idea that James have taken “extraordinary liberties in doing philosophy, but he did talk about emotions and feelings in interesting ways”. Moreover, Myers’s work can be compare to Solomon’s since they both spent a great deal of time reviewing and comparing other theories work to James’s definition of emotion. Myers traced James career and

Chapter 1 explains the work of a Harvard psychologist named William James. William published the article “What is an Emotion?” in a philosophical journal entitled Mind in 1884. His paper is an argument for the primacy and necessity of bodily systems in producing emotional feelings. James-Lange theory states that physiological arousal instigates the experience of emotion. A Harvard physiologist, Walter Cannon, roundly criticized James’ theory, claiming that, according to the Cannon Bard theory, physiological changes follow emotional expression.