Are emotions always clouding reality?

[R_N]

Can a human make decisions based on emotion and be objective at the same time? Can you see something with less bias even if you are emotional about it?

When you observe two sides arguing about which side is "better" or "right" about something, you barely see any rational thought between all the insults thrown around.

This also makes people prone to being manipulated and bullied into certain beliefs.

I think we are all blind more or less, just by being human and having a body.

 

[vak]

Hmm, does having rational thoughts really matter that much, unless you are an engineer/scientist at work or something?

I mean, we are essentially biological machines with little free will, if any. Information is input through our senses, and electricity in our brains activates predetermined pathways, initiating the production of certain hormones. It doesn't get any more complex than that. You might consider yourself more rational than others, but in essence, it's just you reacting differently using the same mechanism they do, only leading to a different outcome. Is it as desirable as we like to think, and are we even correct in admiring rationalism? It doesn't even always lead to scientific advancement, read up about Ignác Semmelweis and his struggle with empiricism against rationality. The "objective" approach can get blind on its own.

It's a cursed existence either way. I stopped caring who is right or wrong a long time ago. I let the people around me argue pointlessly if that's what they feel like doing, I like to think I'm very rational but it certainly doesn't make me better than them so who am I to judge?

 

[DarkRange55]

regardless of emotion, you also have the 25 cognitive biases, conflicting instincts and other psychological factors that filter your perception. Objectivity is a fairytale and in the end things like journalism, truth, morality, value, meaning, ect are all subjective products of the human mind.

Hmm, does having rational thoughts really matter that much, unless you are an engineer/scientist at work or something?

I mean, we are essentially biological machines with little free will, if any. Information is input through our senses, and electricity in our brains activates predetermined pathways, initiating the production of certain hormones. It doesn't get any more complex than that. You might consider yourself more rational than others, but in essence, it's just you reacting differently using the same mechanism they do, only leading to a different outcome. Is it as desirable as we like to think, and are we even correct in admiring rationalism? It doesn't even always lead to scientific advancement, read up about Ignác Semmelweis and his struggle with empiricism against rationality. The "objective" approach can get blind on its own.

It's a cursed existence either way. I stopped caring who is right or wrong a long time ago. I let the people around me argue pointlessly if that's what they feel like doing, I like to think I'm very rational but it certainly doesn't make me better than them so who am I to judge?

No human being is rational. Only certain lines of thought are rational.