EMOTION+AND+KNOWLEDGE

Back to HOME > IB TOK > EMOTION > WHAT THE GUIDE SAYS ABOUT EMOTION =EMOTION AND KNOWLEDGE= • Does emotion reside in the realm of private knowledge in the sense that it cannot be verified by others? Can people be mistaken about their own emotions? Can others lead them to recognize previously unknown emotions? • Is there any kind of knowledge that can be attained solely through emotion? Is the answer to the question dependent on factors such as gender, age, culture, and/or socio-economic group? • Is emotion an essential ingredient of the pursuit or validation of scientific or artistic knowledge? Can there be creativity without emotion? • Why has emotion sometimes been seen as a less valuable way of knowing than, say, reason? Or does the value of emotion as a way of knowing depend on the kind of knowledge that is being pursued? • Susan Stebbing says, “I do not in the least wish to suggest that it is undesirable for us to be set on thinking by emotional considerations. On the contrary, nothing else will suffice to make us think to some purpose.” David Hume claims that, “Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions.” Is it true that emotions are an essential driver of any purposeful activity?