In class we were discussing the philosophy of Parmenides who believed anything you could think of existed and the guide to knowledge was existence. This somehow got me thinking about thought and existence. Do you always of the knowledge of a thing and it is just a dormant thought in your head (very Socratic!) or does "sensing" the object put the thought in your head? I think Parmenides reject both options and say if you can think it, it exists and you can't trust your senses since those can be decieved (how Cartesian!)
This little play in my head of what could come first got me to thinking of a debate in a subject I hold near to my heart, psychology!
Theories of emotions are psychological theories (of course) about how the brain and body react to emotions. Basically the debate is do physiological response to stimuli evoke the cognitive response or does the felt emotion evoke the physiological response or do they both happen at the same time? It's really a chicken or the egg type debate.
There are three main theories on this subject:
James-Lange theory- This is James as in William James, father of Psychology. How exciting! Basically these bros say that the physical response to a stimuli precedes the cognitive response. In modern times this theory is not widely accepted because we now know it takes a few seconds for the physiological response to take full effect. I'm sure most people can tell you feeling and thinking emotions happens close to simultaneously. Which brings us to our next theory...
Cannon-Bard Theory- Physiological response and cognition happens simultaneously. This one to me is a little boring. Not really much to discuss. Next please!
Two-factor Theory - This is my favorite because it is very complex (not very, but more complex than the formers.) This theory does believe that physical stimulus comes first but instead neatly going to emotion your brain must process the reason for the arousal. Cheesy example: You walk to class feeling more elated than the norm. Your brain at the speed of light thinks of reasons why this could happen...why that cute guy/girl who gave you a cute smile in the gym is in the next class! My oh my! But real the reason you feel so elated is your endocrine system felt like testing out its endorphins. I'm a romance killer...sorry yall :(
I'm currently dating a philosophy major who took a psychology class last semester. After most classes he had this to say "Psychology is figuring out all the things Philosophy did like 200 years ago!" Too bad psychology>philosophy!