3 ms·
The website is exceptionally done, but it might be worth considering that the idea of there being a basic set of five emotions...is a very Western view of thing
by marredpally 4y ago
The website is exceptionally done, but it might be worth considering that the idea of there being a basic set of five emotions...is a very Western view of things.
There's at least some evidence[1] that our brains and bodies do not come pre-wired for certain emotions, and that instead they are dynamically wired through specific social and cultural contexts.
"Talking about out emotions as internal experiences is quite exceptional in the world. People in many cultures talk about emotions as public, social, and relational than people do in contemporary Western cultural contexts. In cultures remote from our own in time and place, emotions are often seen as acts in the social and moral world" (from [1])
[1] Between us; how cultures create emotions, by Batja Mesquita
- FredPret 4y agoThere are worse things to be than Western. Why is it automatically assumed to be less enlightened if it's from the West?
- jrochkind1 4y agoCould you be automatically (or not automatically) assuming the comment you were replying to was suggesting things from the West were "less enlightened"? I didn't read that in any of the words, I feel like that was an assumption of yours! Do you assume that anyone pointing out that something is "Western" is saying there's something wrong with things that are Western? Why automatically assume that?
- FredPret 4y agoIt’s not much of an assumption. Read OP again. They draw a clear line between it (five basic emotions) being a Western idea and it being a wrong idea.
- jrochkind1 4y agoi've read it again several times. It's only ~750 words after all. Only five sentances, two original, and three more that are a quote from another work. Can you be specific about which words in the comment, whether from the first two sentances or the quote from the book, lead you to believe the comment author thinks anything is a "wrong idea"? for the reason it is "Western"? Which sentence or sentences are drawing that clear line you say? I am personally not seeing them. I wonder if you could be assuming that certain words imply something that I am not assuming, or if I could be assuming that certain words mean something you are not assuming. Although I'm not even sure which words that might be.