Socrates gave famous advice to know yourself. Good advice but hard to do. Especially as we become more aware of how much happens to us, in us, and from us that is not under our conscious control or is only partly so. Our muscles send messages that they, that is, we, our body, is tired. The lungs can tell us our body needs to gasp and gulp air. Suddenly, we can think of Aunt Martha and how long it has been since we called her. But we didn't make a decision to start thinking of Aunt Martha.
Thought production especially seems mysterious to me. When I am speaking, I think of the words to say and they are relevant to the message I want to send. When I am mentioning my favorite cookie, words like 'cement' or 'diplomacy' do not get spoken or come to mind. Words like 'delicious' and 'nuts' and 'raisins' do but I don't consciously pick from an array of words.
I wrote my dissertation on applications of a semi-formal theory of decision-making. It was fun to think about rational decision making, where all the possible choices are laid out, weighted as to utility (value) and probability of happening. But I was fully aware, even at the time, that real decisions, especially dramatically inspired ones, are not made like that. Most of the time, we have little or no idea of all the choices we could make. A totally terrific idea is often one that suddenly hits us, like the famous cartoon light bulb turning on suddenly, and it is likely not to be an idea we ever had before.
Even though "rational" has been a favorite word and idea about the best human thinking, we discover that reasons alone are not at the basis of decision-making and choice. The celebrated case of Phineas Gage supports the notion that we need our emotional equipment to care enough to choose. Gage (1823-1860) was a railroad construction worker who was the victim of an accidental explosion that drove an iron rod through his skull but did not kill him. His case and later ones show that when the brain is deprived of its parts needed to have emotions, it is also rendered unable or nearly so to make a decision between alternatives. When buying an item, I may choose the blue one because I like blue or think it would go well with the room colors or whatever. But "like" and "go well" are likes, not weighed, validated, external facts.
We may wish to be able to experience our emotions and respond to them, rather than being too much controlled by them. But, our lives would be much poorer without them.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
