[MD] Emotions

[Ian Glendinning]

John, Squonk,
There is no doubt Pirsig suffered psychosis - as we all do a to a
greater or lesser extent - there but for the grace ... ;-) To quote
fellow ECT patient Roy Harper - "we all need a little paranoia". The
trick is to recognize it in onseself - as Pirsig did - writing was
(part of) his therapy - "just write something" - so he wrote about his
psychosis.

Which illustrates the point - 100% social / 100% biological ? Neither, surely.
Emotions are complex things. If we talk of an emotion like
"intersubjective compassion" that is partly genetically / biologically
evolved and partly socially evolved - and in both cases there must be
both brain / mind / mental as well as "somatic" embodied elements -
and the "object" doesn't have to be another human either.

I wish I'd never coined this phrase, but "it's evolututionary
psychology ... stupid".
Regards
Ian

On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 5:58 AM,  <mark_maxwell at talktalk.net> wrote:
>
>
> I think your literary illustration brings out some good points, but I think
> ou miss the main one.  Pirsig's tales are the story of intellect wrestling
> ith social rejection and in both cases (toward Chris AND Lila) his
> ompassion is not something which flows naturally from a social-bound ape as
> e read about all the time, but in a forced and unnatural manner of the
> ntellectually-bound professor analyzing himself and his own emotional
> eactions.  And sharing with us the  insight gleaned, simultaneous with the
> ecognition of social incompleteness:  "He never was the type of person that
> elates well to other people."  An interesting admission from such a
> rofound analyzer of social relations *with* other people.
> Near the end of Lila, the dialogue that plays in his own head,
> ongratulating himself on his compassion for Lila, a truly compassionate
> erson wouldn't realize this.  A compassionate person's compassion flows
> ithout realization or need for comment.
> Hi John,
> A literary illustration is not mine to claim.
> Are you suggesting RMP is psychotic?
> If so, this may explain characteristics displayed by his foremost disciples.
> All the best,
> squonk
>
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