You have a fair point on emotions coming before goals. However, your definition of sadness seems to hinge on sadness in a void. You assume that the only thing

You have a fair point on emotions coming before goals. However, your definition of sadness seems to hinge on sadness in a void. You assume that the only thing that can act on that sadness is the person who is sad; and you assume that the only reaction to sadness is inaction. I have said it before, but let me be clear: Sadness is a social emotion. It drives you to do things that signal to others that something is wrong--crying, for instance. Assuming you've spent any time around a decent human being, you'll notice that sadness is met with efforts to create comfort, to fix the problem. This leads to a better existence for everyone involved, which is probably why we value the idea of helping each other so much.