Can Philosophy Cure Emotions

Can philosophy cure emotions? This is one very loaded question, and one for which philosophy exists in the first place. For many people (myself included), it is this exact question, or at the least, this type of question, that got them interested in philosophy in the first place. Many, many articles, essays and books have been devoted to this question. Careers and lives have even been spent in pursuit of the elusive answer to this question. The simple answer would: yes it’s possible. But what fun is that answer? I will instead dig into it a little bit and see what bones I can dig up, and see where the evidence leads me. If I am going to make a (brief) attempt at this question, the first thing that I must do is to define the question itself - which, for myself at least, is what philosophy is all about.

I am going to settle with a couple of easy, and fairly accepted, definitions of the word philosophy. Just defining what philosophy is has occupied many books and lifetimes, but for the most part this definition works fine for most people (and most dictionaries):

philosophy: the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.

I myself am a little more preferential toward the following definition, since for me it needs to be practical, or else what good is it?

philosophy: a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs.

Taken together then, we must do the first part (rational investigation), to end up with the the second part (a system of principles). Philosophy is not something we can be given, but something we learn and build for ourselves. But that is for another essay....

And what can this practical system of principles do for us? They can provide us with a:

cure: a means of correcting or relieving anything that is troublesome or detrimental.

What is it they can correct?

emotion: an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.

Emotions are generally associated with agitation, and are often referred to as a “reaction” to something. They are commonly believed to be “triggered” by some external event. Emotions are something we “feel” internally, with our (mostly) conscious awareness - as opposed to something we feel with our external senses, such as texture or temperature. It is the uncomfortable emotions we are talking about here. Nobody is interested in a “cure” for joy or love.

Taken all together then, the question could be expanded to say:

Is it possible to come up with a practical system of life principles that allow us to correct or alleviate the uncomfortable and stressful internal feelings and reactions that arise throughout our day-to-day existence, often out of the blue and without rhyme or reason?

Taking a look at the self-help (and related topics) in any library or book store and it becomes immediately apparent that this is indeed an important issue for most people. Reading any religious text further confirms this. Our internal pain and suffering hurts so much more than anything that happens to our body. A man who comes up with a workable solution to dealing with this can have calenders reset to his birth!

Using the first definition of philosophy, I cannot see how there is any way to deal with this without philosophy. Only through rational investigation of myself, my feelings, my thoughts and my actions - and most importantly my beliefs - will I have any real hope of self-directed growth and improvement. Otherwise it is all just random if I don’t play an active role in my own direction. This is the purpose of philosophy. The philosophers and other “lovers of knowledge” are still arguing over just what emotions are and how they work, so it is a complicated problem. I myself have yet to be convinced that emotions can be entirely tamed, but my own reactions to them can be softened, and the havoc they cause me can be mitigated. I would love to get to the point of one day waking up in the morning, and choosing for myself which emotions I will feel that day. In the mean time I just need to stay rational, and remember that my emotions are something that happen to me, but they are not ME. I may feel angry, but I am not anger. I am not sadness. I am not joy. I am just a person experiencing emotions. A human being emotional.

Through philosophy, through rational investigation of myself, I can come to the realization that emotions are something over which I have almost no control. I cannot banish them to some forgotten dimension, or unused corner of my mind. My only real hope is to acknowledge them and learn to deal with them. I cannot ever run away or hide from them. They are an intrinsic part of who and what I am. The Stoics taught that to avoid all the suffering we need only maintain a constant state of indifference and keep ourselves free of passion. Which to me sounds allot like what the Buddha preached about being free of desire. For most of us though, especially in this current time, this holds neither appeal nor practical application. How does one maintain indifference while holding your newborn child? Or at your own wedding? Or at a loved-one’s funeral? I’ve always thought the roller-coaster to be funner than the merry-go-round. The up’s and downs may be a bit scary, sometimes uncomfortable, but always funner!

I will get through it and live to see another day, and feel more feelings, if only I can stay calm, try to not get to hung up on myself, and just try to enjoy life by maintaining a philosophical perspective on things.

philosophical: rationally or sensibly calm, patient, or composed.