Shauk

Me and my girlfriend get into heated arguments from time to time about silly things, she is an emotion based personality, I am logical.

She is the type to explode when she is angry, even when she knows there is no reason for her to be angry.

When I get angry, I always try to think of "why?" if I have a reason, then I present it. If not, I just carry on as if nothing is wrong.

If this seems odd, just picture this...

You wake up, and you've woken up in a bad mood. You have no real reason to be mad, but you just are, so in this state, you are more prone to "reaction"

When my GF is like this, she will find little things to nitpick about, and me, being the logical person I am, always have to refute here. (yes honey its 6am, I havent taken the garbage out yet because I'm leaving in an hour, I will take it out then)

things like that.

but since me and her have had some major word battles over things like this.

I asked her one day "Do you think that Logic is really opposed to Emotion? Are they true opposites like black and white?"

She says yes, though, I find myself unsure.

It seems like they would be opposites. But it seems absurd to me at the same time.

I consider them 2 parts of a whole if anything, yin and yang? water and land may be traditional opposites to some lines of thinking, but to me, I view them as parts of the whole.

anyways, just a question thats been inside for a while now, thought I would ask people here to see perception though everyone else on this matter.



heres another related tangent about me and my gf

we are zodiac opposites, she is a Scorpio (11th month), I am a Taurus. (5th month)

I dont know if people here subscribe to the validity of "signs" but its been an interesting read to me and her nonethess, though really, this subject is for another thread.

Jasmar

Iunno that does seem hard to answer, but I don't believe it to be so. Whenever I'm mad there's usual a logical reason why I'm mad, If I'm happy theres usually a reason.
The real way to live in my opinon is to use logic and emotion hand in hand. Emotion tends to be more morale based as apposed to logic which is the cold answer to things. Unless you want to be a robot or a the opposite an illogical fool you need to learn to use them hand in hand. I wouldn't go as far to say that their polar opposites because their rooted in each other in my opinion

ARTelevision

Opposition is a function of language.
In nature, events are parts of wholes - aspects of a continuum of energy - variables aligned from one pole to another.

I can't think of anything that isn't like that - except in certain ways of thinking and speaking about things.

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CSflim

The following is the way I see things. This is how I believe logic and emotion to be related, and how they come into conflict. I am not a psychologist, and have not based my viewpoint on anyone else’s. Perhaps this coincides somewhat with some theory or other, I don’t know. I the following I use the words “emotion” and “logic” in their loosest and broadest sense possible.



Logic and emotion are not opposites. They are related, and occasionally come into conflict, but they cannot be seen as opposites.

Some people claim that they live their lives completely logically, to the complete exclusion of emotion. Rubbish! Logically, why should you get up in the morning?

People no doubt will attempt to logically reduce these questions.
I get up in the morning to go to work. I work to get money, I need money to eat, I need to eat to survive etc etc.
But why do any of this?

We are driven by our "emotions". Ultimately everything we do is to pander towards our emotions. i.e. the quest for happiness.
Logically there is no reason to be happy.

Emotion is the root cause for your "ultimate purpose". You use both logic and emotion to act in a manner beneficial to this ultimate purpose.

The problem occurs when the two come into conflict. Some people get overwhelmed by their emotions, and lose control. Other people know how to deal with their emotions. Sometimes you need to use logic to override what your emotions tell you. Your emotions can at times be self destructive, and can in fact work against your ultimate purpose. This is when logic comes into play.

Using logic, and you see past the short-term goal that your emotion has set up, and you may realise that the correct course of action is somewhat different. But, though you are using logic to override your self-defeating emotion, ultimately your logical actions are just pandering to a "higher" and more "long term" emotion.

To put this in the context of the situation with your girlfriend:

Her "higher" emotional purpose is to be happy with you and with your life together.
But when she is in a bad mood, the higher purpose becomes obscured, and many minor things start to seem like major issues. She is angry, and a short-term goal is to somehow release this anger. So she takes it out on you.
A very minor thing such a bin not being brought out is used as a reason to cause a big fuss.

A logical person would see this situation differently, and would also feel the "reasonless" anger, but would also take into account the detrimental effects that acting on this anger could have. A logical person would see that screaming about a bin not being brought out goes against the ultimate purpose of being happy with you, and would thus "override" the short term emotional pay-off in order to act favourably towards the "long term" emotional pay-off.

Now obviously enough, my description is very much over simplified. Most notably the “black and white” choices and the existence of only two “levels”. In reality, there is of course a near infinitude of potential ways to act. Also, there would not be merely two levels of “ultimate” and “short term”. There would be many levels, also these levels would not be sharply defined, and immutable. The differences between them would be very much blurred, and over time, the different levels would change.

So in summary a “logical” person is someone who tends to see past the short-term emotional goals, and will always act in a way favourable to the higher emotional levels. An “emotional” person is someone who tends to not see past the lower level emotions and will thus sometimes act in ways detrimental to the higher levels.
A “normal” person is of course someone who acts in a manner lying somewhere between the above two extremes.

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Shauk

awesome response

But yeah just to elaborate I wasn't saying im all "spock" style with my logic, I do have emotions, but i've worked very hard to control how I present myself. The key is logic, in my opinion.

I look at what my "emotion" is telling me to do, (potentials) be angry, be sad, be happy.

I then think of what will come of these actions, and if they are really worth indulging (potentials) be taken seriously, be pittied, spread a good mood.

there is a problem with my self control though, it does cause me to be very manipulative without even trying.

Because I dont indulge in natural emotion unless its too intense to be controlled, or unless there is something to benifet me or someone I wish to share a benifet.

I choose to be in a happy mood most of the time, even though I may not really be as happy as I seem.


because its kinda hard to get out of the loop of commercial slavery (yes, the labor market is voluntary slavery if you think about the big picture)

plus if you dont do any of this, you die, since most people fear the unknown, they conform so they do not die

Fear (emotion) the Unknown (logic)

emotion and logic are both tied up in a nice package there, both the logical and emotional, do not want to die. simply because one is either afraid, or uncertain.

I think this thread might get pretty interesting.

tecoyah

Seems to me that you are indeed using a logical stance, logic alone is not condusive to human interaction.An understanding of emotion and the action-reaction communication brings about will make relations far more pleasant. I do believe that emotion and logic are tied together, but we must consider the other aspects of our minds....intellect, and experience are very important.
This part may be a little out there but oh well, I believe the age of someones soul will be a huge factor in the way they relate to those around them, as compassion and understanding will correspond to this age. Thus reaction, or a lack thereof...may depend on how open we are to experiencing our trials as opportunity rather than negativity.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

empu

Logic is a human construction, emotion is more fundamental to our biology. They are not "opposites", I'm not sure they're even really directly comparable in any useful way. My own experience is that living life with too much of either and not enough of the other is a recipe for frustration.

Mr. Moe

Logic and emotions go hand in hand, they are not opposites, although one will usually override the other. Extremely emotional people tend to complete focus on long-term goals in my experience, which is the opposite of what you would expect. Their solutions to problems don't usually make sense in the short-term, and they will often explode over simple things. Extremely logical people often become robots, unable to communicate their feelings or to be able to connect to others. They focus on the next logical step in the great equation, and generally have one long term goal, but focus on the short term methods of getting there. Only by keeping these in some sort of balance can a person function.

trudes1131

I would view logic and emotion as two key elements in anyone's mental underpinnings. The key here, as in many instances throughout life, is to establish a balanced equation featuring these two principle items.

Without emotion, there is no drive to utilize logic. Why appeal for a logical action or answer if there is no trace of emotional involvement? Here, emotion is a fuel in the pursuit of logic.

Conversely, without logic comes misguided emotion. This can represent itself on many levels, ranging from the temper tantrums you see from infants to the temper tantrums you see from upper management. Logic is, in this sense, the moderator of emotion.

These are two psychological elements whose fluctuations will hopefully drop as one experiences more from their existence and learns more of their surrounding environment. To classify them as opposites would indeed be correct, however only with the understanding that, as with many things (good/evil, love/hate), they are needed in order to effectively balance one another off.

Re-reading this, I realize it's coming off more as a lecture than as an opinion. I shall re-iterate then, that this is merely a judgment based on the experiences I have pursued thus far. The beautiful thing is that in five years, months, days, minutes or even seconds I can review this question and face the possibility of viewing it in an entirely different context due to an increased exposure to what surrounds me.

And that, in itself, pleases me to no end. Cheers!

Eldaire

Yin and Yang. You nailed it. Two opposites that balance one another, neither deniable. You need both.