This thread is about instinct, mood and emotion and a philosophical discussion about the three.
I will first provide two definitions from google:
emotion
[size=85]noun[/size]
a strong feeling deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.
“she was attempting to control her emotions”
instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.
“responses have to be based on historical insight, not simply on emotion”
mood
[size=85]noun[/size]
a temporary state of mind or feeling.
“he appeared to be in a very good mood about something”
an angry, irritable, or sullen state of mind.
“he was obviously in a mood”
I will now quote myself:
Bounded Rationality is always at work - the flow of mind is an ever changing dimension that is bound to reality, logic and emotion.
Google defines instinct as an innate, typically fixed pattern of behaviour in animals in response to certain stimuli and provides an example as follows: “the homing instinct”; Google also states that instinct is a natural or intuitive way of acting or thinking as well as a natural propensity or skill of a specified kind. Google also has this to say about instinct: the fact or quality of possessing innate behaviour patterns.
The above definition of emotion indicates emotion as being an instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge - so its seems that both instinct and emotion can be derived from intuitive processes.
I will use a quote I made in another thread to start stitching what I am saying together:
There are some obvious and subtle differences between instinct, mood, emotion and my form of bounded rationality. I have noticed that philosophy does not talk a great deal of emotion and mood - maybe a little more about emotion than mood. Reality is an obvious driver to instinct, mood and emotion and I am sure it is also a driver to Bounded Rationality too.
I want to focus a little on mood in this first post.
I found an interesting but brief article called Mood - Aesthetic, Psychological and Philosophical Perspectives referring to a two-day conference that is interdisciplinary in nature. I am going to quote the quote in that article:
I too have noticed the lack of sustained theoretical reflection on mood. I hope to take a philosophical approach in this post as it pertains to MOOD.
My Article
Positive and Negative moods affect many aspects in life for instance optimism which is considered positive can lead to risky behaviour and pessimism which is considered negative can lead to less-risky behaviour; yet optimism can also affect a persons motivation in a positive way and optimism would be dependent on a positive mood; pessimism as mentioned is mostly considered negative and in some individuals can lead to suicide.
I find it interesting that positive and negative moods can lead to counteracting behaviors in different people. Can you think of any more?
According to an article I read on Wikipedia - mood can be affected by ‘lack of sleep’, ‘nutrition’ and ‘facial expression’. Can you think of any more?
I have seen evidence of the ‘social mood’ in my local town and am wondering whether anyone else has been able to perceive this peculiar event taking place in their own localities.
So between the individual mood and the social mood I am thinking that mood is something that must be essential to the balancing of ones perspective when it comes to living in general. Would you be inclined to agree?
End of article
As short as the actual article part of this post is I am trying to use it to stimulate thought on the topic of mood. In other posts I will initiate the topics of instinct and emotion but I wanted to start with mood given how hard it is to get a grip on.