I feel therefore I am?

[AlexGTV]

Please take the time to read before you vote.

I have contemplated about the human existence (and possibly for all organisms with neurosystems, of which we are the pinnacle) and concluded through introspection and observation to this. Feelings are the only reality, it is what we are.

Descartes was close, but I believe he was wrong.

Even thoughts at their core are feelings. What drives us to differentiate between feelings and thoughts is that normally thoughts have little of them. Naturally our brain has evolved to chemically react most to the environment and less to internal dialog.

Imagine what would happen if we would get more pronounced feelings through our thoughts and not "real" occurences. Being naturally "high" you could say. Would you eat? Would you care to find a shelter, to protect yourself, to seek love and affection?

“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.”
- Nikola Tesla

Interestingly this difficulty to get comparable emotions through thinking is the major driving force before progress. Cultural, technological and humanitarian. In economic terms, investing into thoughts, or rather the dialog between contemplation and the environment resources brings enormous returns. Which are first and foremost emotional, before they materialize.

I believe the realisation that we are feelings is such a pious force in feeling empathy for others. I don't like Warcraft, I consider it a waste of time since I don't think it requires either skill or does it offer any artistic value - it seems bland to me. But, realising the person playing it feels certainly - otherwise he wouldn't engage in the activity - real positive feelings makes me regard his experience as holly. In the same way that I would like others to respect my music preferences, even if they dislike the actual music.

Feelings are holly. Directing these feelings to actual and sustainable well-being of the individual and society is, I believe, the most holly mission of education. Family, school, role-models.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
- Albert Einstein

"Trust your feelings"
- Obi Wan Kenobi

So what are you? Thoughts as Descartes believed, feelings, or something else?

 

[AlexGTV]

For those of you that believe you are your thoughts, can you counter the argument that thoughts are organised feelings - but feelings nontheless? (see dream logic)

 

[lbsf1]

I'm both my thoughts and feelings. Feelings are parts of thoughts so I'm not only my feelings.

The whole point of this theory is to prove whether we actually exist. Feelings can be partially understood, however thoughts are much more complicated. If we arn't real and are in a computer (matrix) then you would think that they wouldn't want you questioning this, so wouldn't program it in so to say. However we don't know whether full ai will ever be achieved.

The saying "I think so therefore I am" is what this thread reminds me of. It is the best proof we have that we actually exist. Complete free will, morals and feelings are so complex that in no currently known way could we be part of a computer system, and in no known way could be in the known future.

Sorry for my slightly rampled response. My thinks of one reason, then thinks of a way to counteract it so I kinda end up with a weird disscussion with myself in my arguements. Sorry about that.

 

[Alex p.]

Just here briefly to say that I love this thread.

Too lazy now to write a proper response. One should take time and care to respond to the OP, maybe later...

 

[MatskiMonk]

Yeah I might pitch in with a more detailed response when I'm not working 12 hour days but.., feelings are what happens when experience and biological pre-progmmed responses meet stimulus.

.. I've just deleted a few big paragraphs because they read like jibberish, the crux of it though was: I love, I hate, and pretty much everything in between, I don't do so because of magic, I do so because a biological system dictates it.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Just a tenth of a cent to say that IMHO you aren't your feelings, or your thoughts. That's post-production of you and, like all post-productions, that only gives you the end result. You ARE comes before before you feel and before you think. And you only think and feel because you ARE.

Then, this poses another problem. Does what you ARE have any influence on what you FEEL or THINK? Probably it does.

And again, what influence does what you FEEL and what you THINK have in what you ARE? Do they REDEFINE you? Do they change who/what you ARE?

I guess not. You can consider yourself either as a mere bag of flesh, bones, nerves and whatever else materially you have in you ... you can consider yourself that and also a spiritual entity you can't actually define or prove exist (and that will lead you to some sort of faith) ... and whatever mix in between (bag of bones that is the pinnacle of organisms with neurosystems )

Whatever ... I definitely don't think you are what you feel. You are what you are. And then you feel.

 

[BobK]

So, feelings are plants with spiky leaves? Ya learn something every day.

 

[Racedude]

Both. It's kinda like my thoughts aided by my feelings.

 

[nk4e]

In probably a lot of honest answers goes back to elementary teachings. I am myself which makes me different. Though in my opinion, alot of my questions is backed by logic and feelings. It is because I want it/ I need it.

 

[W3H5]

I'm quite a deep thinker at times and my father is a philosophy doctor so I know quite a bit about this subject.

I'd first start by saying that Descartes wasn't necessary using all of his brain power when he came up with that famous thought.

"I think, therefore I am."

This conclusion came about after he (Descartes) began to doubt the world around him, his senses and his thoughts, a matrix-like situation if you like. He concluded that because he has the ability to make these doubts then he must in fact be in existence for these thoughts to occur him.

Descartes doubted everything, except his own ability to doubt, leaving a major flaw in his conclusion.

I wish I had more time to explain this thoroughly but I'm on a lunch break.

 

[niky]

Feelings are not universal. There are people who are unemotional, whether due to mental condition or simple lack of empathy.

There are those who also cannot perform tasks of higher cognition.

It is entirely possible that consciousness, which is what people refer to when they refer to the feeling of self, is not a thing but an artifact borne of the interaction of our environment, through our senses... our chemical selves... hormones, emotions... and our rational selves... our minds... Which is why you can subtract one or the other, and yet still end up with a human being.

If a simulation is complete enough that we can't discern the difference from reality, who's to say it isn't reality? As it is, our reality has a level of "graininess" beneath which we cannot see. And it wouldn't matter if the computing power needed to simulate the Universe is so large that the simulation would take forever to run... Being embedded in the Universe, we wouldn't notice how long the computation takes, anyway...

 

[Rico_S]

Humanity is too complex for me. Feelings, thoughts, or both, I don't really know.

 

[Pyle_PMG]

I am my feelings. This is hard to explain, bear with me here. For example, the whole way I act and display myself in public is entirely based on my feelings. Like when I am angry (normally I am) I am very aggressive and obnoxious towards 3/4 of the general population. When I'm sad (normally I am) I can be passive and yet obnoxious towards 3/4 of the general population. When I am happy I am assertive, kind and respectful and fun to be around. The problem is that in a way I am unstable, volatile and misunderstood. When I feel strongly about something, its like all reasoning goes to hell and what I feel comes to the forefront and is displayed in my actions. Like if I were to like a girl I would do everything in my power to show that, even if it made me look like an idiot. In this sense, I am my feelings, and it is ruining my life. I rarely take risks anymore because I can't fathom the possibly of ****ing up again, which by doing so makes me feel worse. All thoughts are based on feeling, I am my feelings.

 

[wfooshee]

I am neither my feelings nor my thoughts.

I am an animal that has thoughts and feelings, but they do not define the kind of animal (or person) that I am.

 

[Dotini]

I am neither my feelings nor my thoughts.

I am an animal that has thoughts and feelings, but they do not define the kind of animal (or person) that I am.

Yes, most folks are defined by their actions. Perhaps a few, like scholars, writers, poets and actors, are defined by their thoughts and feelings.

 

[wfooshee]

Cause and effect backwards. A person's actions do not define him, as in, "He is the result of his actions." Rather, they are the result of who he is. Same with feelings.

They may define how others perceive him, however.

 

[Public'sTwin]

Descartes wasn't saying that you are your thoughts; he was saying that, because you have declared yourself—demonstrating an act of sentience by announcing your own capability to demonstrate acts of sentience—you've validated your own existence.

Yet it is not proof of one's physical existence—simply that, for an object to doubt its own existence, it has affirmed it, in whatever capacity that may be.

Edit:
This reminds me of the philosophy student who challenged the prof to answer the question,
"But how do I know that I am?"
To which he responds,
"Who's asking?"

 

[Villain]

Descartes wasn't saying that you are your thoughts; he was saying that, because you have declared yourself—demonstrating an act of sentience by announcing your own capability to demonstrate acts of sentience—you've validated your own existence.

Beat me to it, well said - especially without the use of a blue highlighter. 👍

 

[ALP1986]

I'm sticking with the post-structuralists:

I think, therefore I'm being thought.

 

[watermelon punch]

You forgot: "I am my actions."
Are not actions what define a person's individuality among other people?

 

[Public'sTwin]

Are not actions what define a person's individuality among other people?

Only as it would appear.

 

[Encyclopedia]

I'd say I'm a combination of feelings, thoughts and physical body.

 

[TheBlueHusky]

I was listening to the song I Am... All Of Me when I saw this thread.

 

[Villain]

I was listening to the song I Am... All Of Me when I saw this thread.

 

[dhandeh]

I am me.