Monday, February 7, 2011

my living noggin demands desegregation

I have this notion that intellect and emotion aren’t exclusive, compartmentalized experiences, but rather complimentary and related bodily functions. After all, its been a pretty long time since people have come to discover that the anatomical heart is not the headquarters of emotion, but rather the skull-contained brain houses feeling, memory, and general cognition. Given, one may perceive certain feelings and stirrings in other parts of the body such as the gut ect.; but even then, these sensations are processed and discerned back in the brain. And if all these powerful things are in similar if not overlapping vicinity, why do we insist on separating them? A thinking brain can cause joy, wonder, fear, and shame just as any "outward" relationship can (unbeknowest to the subject) trigger academic themes, concepts, and conflicts within the interaction.
University classrooms should come equipped to discuss, experience, and behold emotional responses from its students and professors, as the journey of knowledge and discovery is fraught with feeling. Its time for the stereotype of the "cold intellectual" or emotionally void academic to be dispelled. Thoughtful learning should be conducive to an emotive human. And while one category does not replace the other, emotions can be intellectualy discussed; intellect can be percieved by emotional avenues.

3 comments:

  1. Have you been in a situation lately where someone actually expected you to keep them separate?

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  2. Yeah-- classrooms! In music class you can talk about an emotion connected to the peice, but they dont want you to be affected by it in class. And its embarrassing when you cry during a lesson and I'm saying it shouldnt be! More so in philosophy, emotions are typically shunned as irrational or unimportant or some sort of side-products of the brain and pontentails for unclear thinking-- but I think thats beginning to be re-evaluated and challenged.

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  3. Makes me wonder also, if segregating emotion and intellect is ineffective for everyday things. I think I would experience things more vividly if I were always combined.

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