As we were discussing our observations and conclusions regarding the human collage, I noticed a reoccurring concept: emotion. We categorized the people in the collage by the emotion they were displaying, from happiness and candid joy to focus and anger. I think that emotion is one thing that is truly universal, because everyone feels something.
Emotion, and the ability to recognise and associate with others’ emotions is what makes us human. Despite the tremendous range of emotion that each individual can feel, humans tend to categorize their feelings. All over the world, no matter the language, humans know the feelings of love, anger, happiness, sadness etc. Of course, each person feels each emotion in different ways and at differing levels, but the basic feeling is the same. I think this is the route of all cultural ties. We can understand the essential emotions that others are feeling, even if we have never been in their situation before, because we have categorized an emotion that we think is close to what they are feeling. We use our emotional history and experiences to sympathize with (or scorn) other people’s emotional states.
I think there is no difference between man and woman- besides hormonally and biologically. The emotions that the sexes are stereotypically tied to have been caused by our society rather than our nature. I think that each individual can feel any emotion as little or as much as the situation dictates and that is not altered by their genetic makeup.
Art is the manifestation of emotion. Humans make art to discharge latent or overpowering emotion. We want to share the feelings we have with others, commonly seeking a reaction or sympathy. Since all humans have emotion of some form, all humans can create art, or at least something creative that was generated out of emotional thought. So, any person can be an artist if they feel compelled to express themselves artistically and emotionally.
Our desire for “cognitive knowing”, as discussed in The Creative Impulse, leads us to develop logical and unemotional responses to situations. We begin to doubt and try to suppress our emotions because -logically- they don’t make sense and they are uncontrollable. This is an internal fight against our own humanity, where the left and right brain are essentially fighting for control. So far, the left brain is winning, slowly diminishing our emotional humanity.
I think that people shouldn’t be afraid of their emotions or try to suppress them. These emotions are what makes us human and without them we would lack art and music. There’s nothing wrong with displaying emotions in public or having emotions that are ‘too masculine’ or ‘too feminine’. As our society makes more discoveries and relies more heavily on cognitive knowing humans are going to have to be able to find a separation between the logic and the emotion so that we can retain all of what makes us human.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that we reached such different conclusions about what it means to be human. You argue that how we express emotion and how we’re able to relate to others’ emotions is what makes us human. I would argue that our ability to collaborate with other humans as we seek to build up our collective knowledge is what makes us human. I’m wondering if our differing viewpoints has something to do with the right brain-left brain concept that we’ve been exploring recently in class.
I fully agree that art is the manifestation of our emotions. We have an internal drive to create, and this has allowed for us to create billions of pieces of artwork over the past several thousand years. The question that comes to mind when I think of art as a subject is “What Makes Art Good?” I’ve done a little bit of reading from a few different sources, and I’ve stumbled upon this essay that Paul Graham wrote. Graham is a successful tech. entrepreneur, essayist, and artist. I would highly recommend that you read through it. You might find it interesting.
http://paulgraham.com/goodart.html
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DeleteThanks! I am actually right in the middle of the right/left brain thing, but I can understand why you would think I am totally right brain! I agree with your evaluation too, I just chose to focus on the one main idea of emotion!
DeleteTaylor,
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly that emotion is one of the defining characteristics of being human. Body language is key for communication, and I think that emotion helps in dictating those emotions, despite a language barrier. I also agree with the statement of art being an expression of emotion. I myself have never considered it a discharge of overpowering emotion, but I do consider it a means to convey thoughts and feelings when doing so in person, or directly to another individual is not satisfactory.
Your statement concerning the sexes does intrigue me, due to the fact that I consider genetics and hormones to be critical in discerning emotion. The higher presence of testosterone in males does attribute to higher levels of aggression, so I would say that biological makeup sets the parameters for our emotions. Of course, the point that I do concede is that my comment refers to averages.On an individual level, I believe that I can't disagree with your statement.
I found this to be quite interesting and well written. Thank you for giving me that opportunity.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with you on the concept that cognitive knowing, if solely focused on, can cause us to lack a vital part of our humanity. Emotions are what separate us from (most) animals - without them, we would not be what we are. I think that it is also very true what you said about the difference, or lack thereof, between male and female in regards to emotion. Social stigmas cause us to view certain feelings with a specific gender, rather than realizing that we all feel these emotions at some time in our life. That does not make us the opposite gender for doing so. I really enjoyed your perspective on this! Thanks for sharing.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI love how you connected our discussion of emotion in class with this assignment. I really appreciated your statement in the second paragraph about how we as humans use our experiences to help us sympathize with other people. I also loved your statements on how our society has expectations that the genders express their emotions in certain ways. You had so many good points and this was amazingly well written. Thanks for sharing!
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI love what you wrote about what it means to be an artist, because it is completely true. As an artist, I know exactly what you are talking about. Art is what people use to express ourselves and show emotions. And I love what you said about how we can all be artistic and creative because so many people believe to be an artist is to be talented; I love that you saw that. Thank you for sharing, it was a great post!