Philosophy quote analysis
1. April 8
We think and name in one world, we live and feel in another. -Marcell Proust
Through this quote, Marcell suggests that reason and emotion are two separated and unconnected ways of knowing. He does this though the metaphor which suggests the difference between reason and emotion is like two different worlds. It is assumed that the world in which thinking and naming is done is the world of reason and the world in which one lives and feels is the world of emotion.
The first way in which the difference between the two worlds is established is through the different actions that each world is associated with. The first world, the world of reason, is associated with thinking and naming and the second world, the world of emotion, is associated with living and feeling. The quote suggests that these actions are exclusive to their corresponding world, which is to say one thinks and names only in the world of reason and likewise, one lives and feels solely in the world of emotion. Thus, the quote strongly implies that reason and emotion are two separate ways of knowing; that the actions they are responsible for are mutually exclusive and perhaps the quote might even suggest that the areas of the brain responsible for both are different as well.
One area of knowledge that deals with both reason and emotion is Ethics. In ethics, one deals with whether and action is morally right or morally wrong. A question that often arises is “How does one determine whether an action is right or wrong?” More specifically, the question asks which way of knowing does one utilize to determine the moral value of a decision.
Immanuel Kant is German philosopher who proposed that the right action could be arrived through reason alone. This means that in face of a moral dilemma, according to Kant, one should ignore their emotions and use only reason to try to come up with the solution. Kant’s theory regarding ethics reflects Marcell Proust’s quote. Both of them seem to agree that
We think and name in one world, we live and feel in another. -Marcell Proust
Through this quote, Marcell suggests that reason and emotion are two separated and unconnected ways of knowing. He does this though the metaphor which suggests the difference between reason and emotion is like two different worlds. It is assumed that the world in which thinking and naming is done is the world of reason and the world in which one lives and feels is the world of emotion.
The first way in which the difference between the two worlds is established is through the different actions that each world is associated with. The first world, the world of reason, is associated with thinking and naming and the second world, the world of emotion, is associated with living and feeling. The quote suggests that these actions are exclusive to their corresponding world, which is to say one thinks and names only in the world of reason and likewise, one lives and feels solely in the world of emotion. Thus, the quote strongly implies that reason and emotion are two separate ways of knowing; that the actions they are responsible for are mutually exclusive and perhaps the quote might even suggest that the areas of the brain responsible for both are different as well.
One area of knowledge that deals with both reason and emotion is Ethics. In ethics, one deals with whether and action is morally right or morally wrong. A question that often arises is “How does one determine whether an action is right or wrong?” More specifically, the question asks which way of knowing does one utilize to determine the moral value of a decision.
Immanuel Kant is German philosopher who proposed that the right action could be arrived through reason alone. This means that in face of a moral dilemma, according to Kant, one should ignore their emotions and use only reason to try to come up with the solution. Kant’s theory regarding ethics reflects Marcell Proust’s quote. Both of them seem to agree that