What Is An Emotion Rhetorical Analysis
3. In What Is an Emotion, William James contradicts popular belief. He claims that when faced with certain stimuli, our body reacts first and then we feel an emotion. For example, when we see a bear, many people would say that they would immediately feel afraid and run. However, James’ theory is the opposite; he claims that when we see the bear, our hearts begin to race, we tremble, and ultimately run away. We interpret these bodily changes as fear and that is when we are afraid. Overall, James’ theory is that our emotions are the results of our bodily reactions to exciting stimuli. Robert Solomon has his own theory of emotions and in What Love Is he focuses on the emotion of love. He describes it as being more than just a mere feeling of a
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racing heart, sweaty palms, and blood rushing to our cheeks. He describes that our emotions are little worlds with their own characteristics.
Solomon calls the feeling of love the “love world”. He describes it as a world that we share with someone and both people having the freedom to stay in the relationship as well as leaving it. Solomon explains love as being an emotion that is shared with another person instead of it being a feeling that is about or is directed at someone. Judy Foreman also explains the emotion of love, but in her own theory and with a much more biological approach. Foreman describes love simply as being a combination of high levels of dopamine and serotonin. She also explained the contribution of oxytocin in the feeling of attachment when in love. Foreman’s theory of emotion, particularly focusing on love, is that it is nothing more than just chemical reactions and neurons firing. Out of the three theories, I believe that James’ argument is the most accurate. His theory that when we are faced with stimuli, our bodies react to that stimuli, and we then interpret those reactions as an emotion is the most sound and effective in explaining what our emotions actually are. Foreman focuses solely on the bodily reactions and Solomon mainly focuses on the deeper feeling of an emotion. Foreman would explain fear, sadness, and love in completely biological terms whereas James would also describe our bodily reactions, but would further explain how we interpret those feelings to constitute an
emotion.
racing heart, sweaty palms, and blood rushing to our cheeks. He describes that our emotions are little worlds with their own characteristics.
Solomon calls the feeling of love the “love world”. He describes it as a world that we share with someone and both people having the freedom to stay in the relationship as well as leaving it. Solomon explains love as being an emotion that is shared with another person instead of it being a feeling that is about or is directed at someone. Judy Foreman also explains the emotion of love, but in her own theory and with a much more biological approach. Foreman describes love simply as being a combination of high levels of dopamine and serotonin. She also explained the contribution of oxytocin in the feeling of attachment when in love. Foreman’s theory of emotion, particularly focusing on love, is that it is nothing more than just chemical reactions and neurons firing. Out of the three theories, I believe that James’ argument is the most accurate. His theory that when we are faced with stimuli, our bodies react to that stimuli, and we then interpret those reactions as an emotion is the most sound and effective in explaining what our emotions actually are. Foreman focuses solely on the bodily reactions and Solomon mainly focuses on the deeper feeling of an emotion. Foreman would explain fear, sadness, and love in completely biological terms whereas James would also describe our bodily reactions, but would further explain how we interpret those feelings to constitute an
emotion.