David Hume on the emotional brain vs the rational mind
Discover which ‘time perspective’ you hold
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David Hume: The Emotional Brain is Not The Enemy of Your Rational Mind
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David Hume was one of the most influential thinkers of the 18th century. His work on philosophy, ethics, and natural science remains relevant today.
Among his many notable works are “The Natural History of Religion” and “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.” Hume was also a big proponent of empiricism and argued that reason and facts should not be given precedence over feelings and intuition.
Hume’s ideas have greatly impacted philosophy, psychology and sociology. His belief that feeling is more powerful than reason has been widely interpreted as a call for people to prioritise their emotions over their intellect. But while this may be true in some cases, feelings should not be used in isolation when thinking about the best way forward.
Rational scepticism opens doors to many realities
“All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious, and not to admit of any hypothesis whatever, much less of any which is supported by no appearance of probability,” Hume said.
Hume was a famous skeptic who constantly questioned the validity of his own beliefs and those of others. He allowed himself to be open to new experiences and always challenged his assumptions about the world.
He questioned everything.
Hume believed that people should be skeptical of those who claim to know certain truths because they may not be telling the truth. Instead, people should base their beliefs on careful observation and logical reasoning. This approach to philosophy is sometimes referred to as “skepticism”.
He was known for his bold challenge to the assumption that human beings can have knowledge of reality. Hume distinguished between what he called “ideas”, which are mental constructs and “impressions”, which are sensory perceptions.
He argued that ideas could never be certain because humans are unable to directly experience reality. Instead, all we can do is “impress” ourselves about a situation based on sensory perceptions.
He even questioned the reliability of our senses.
Don’t underestimate your emotional brain
In his essay Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, he wrote: “Reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”
In other words, we shouldn’t try to use reason or logical thinking as a way to manipulate or control our emotions or our beliefs.
Instead, we should use our passions to determine truth and falsehood. As such, much of Hume’s work focuses on emotion and reason.
Not only did he think they were two different things, but they were often in conflict with one another. Hume argued that feelings were not something separate from reason. Rather, they were part of the human reasoning process.
“Indulge your passion for science…but let your science be human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society. Be a philosopher; but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man,” Hume wrote in his book, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
He believed this because he saw many people having strong feelings about things without having good reasons for them.
In other words, Hume thought that feelings and reasoning were intertwined. One could not exist without the other.
For example, if you love someone, you will have a feeling that you want to be with them. This feeling is your reason for wanting to be with them.
However, it does not mean you are irrational or illogical for having a strong feeling like this. It just means that you are human and have emotions as part of your reasoning process.
Another way emotion and reason are intertwined is through the feedback loop between them. Feeling something strongly motivates you to think about why you feel it and what it means to you.
Your feelings influence your thinking and vice versa.
Therefore, as Hume said, feelings and reason are “interwoven” and cannot be separated from each other in our everyday lives.
Improving your emotional intelligence — self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-regulation, empathy and social skills can also improve your ability to reason objectively. Even though your interpretation of experiences may be subjective.
The limits of reason and logic
“The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian,” says Hume.
He argued that reason and logic could not answer many fundamental questions about life, meaning, and morality. He stated that feelings are “impressions” made by the brain and cannot be reasoned out logically. For Hume, feelings are simply an involuntary reaction to a situation and cannot be controlled or predicted.
This means that when you feel something, you should not discount your gut when making important decisions.
However, if Hume believed that logic is limited to a purely instrumental function as a tool for reasoning rather than something inherent to reality or an objective standard for truth, why would he even bother with it?
If logic cannot tell us anything meaningful about our world or ourselves as humans, then what can it do?
If every proposition must be true or false, how could we ever know which one it is? We can’t prove that the laws of logic are valid or applicable to the world outside our heads.
We can’t show that there must be some causal principle at work in the universe. These things don’t follow any other proposition we can think of or observe. They simply have to be true if we are to make any sense of the world around us. Even so, Hume accepted these principles as self-evident and necessary for making sense of our experiences.
Beware of the limits of logic and reason and their limits on emotional intelligence — an important influence in your life.
Logic and reason are essential ingredients for thinking, but they have applicable limitations in human decision-making. As difficult as it may be, aim for a balance between emotion and logic. Truly wise people learn to integrate emotion and reason to navigate the chaos of life.
Food for thought
Do Less. It’s Good for You [Time]
If you struggle to unwind, don’t dive straight into the deep end by booking a weeklong beach vacation. Start by finding small moments in your day to practice slowing down and getting comfortable just being. And pick moments strategically, choosing those when you’re most likely to succeed—like during your morning shower, Westgate says.
Like most things in life, resting gets easier the more you do it, Headlee says. Slowing down may feel uncomfortable or even shameful at first, but once you train your brain, it will get easier, she says. “It’s going to take a little time to teach your brain that you can not answer that email and nothing will happen, nothing will explode,” Headlee says. “You just have to keep doing it.”
Einstein’s 7 rules for a better life [Big Think]
Rule #3: Have a puzzle mindset.
“Think about the problems that we face, both as individuals and collectively, as a civilization. These could be financial, environmental, health-related, or political, for example, as those arenas affect us all. Do you view these problems as crises? If you do, you probably feel despair at them, as there’s very little that’s empowering about facing a crisis. But if you view them as a puzzle, you might be inclined to think about a fresh approach to solving them. In this regard, Einstein was pretty much the prototype individual for someone who viewed every difficulty he faced as a puzzle to be solved: in physics and beyond.”
How to do mental time travel [Psyche]
“Discover which ‘time perspective’ you hold.
For a flavour of your own time perspective, reflect on the following statements, and for each one ask yourself: ‘How characteristic or true is this of me?’ Make a note of whether it is very untrue, untrue, neutral, true, or very true:
I think about the bad things that have happened to me in the past.
Painful past experiences keep being replayed in my mind.
It’s hard for me to forget unpleasant images of my youth.
Familiar childhood sights, sounds, smells often bring back a flood of wonderful memories.
Happy memories of good times spring readily to mind.
I enjoy stories about how things used to be in the ‘good old times’.
Life today is too complicated; I would prefer the simpler life of the past.
Since whatever will be will be, it doesn’t really matter what I do.
Often, luck pays off better than hard work.
I make decisions on the spur of the moment.
Taking risks keeps my life from becoming boring.
It is important to put excitement in my life.
When I want to achieve something, I set goals and consider specific means for reaching those goals.
Meeting tomorrow’s deadlines and doing other necessary work comes before tonight’s play.
I complete projects on time by making steady progress.”
Your answers reveal how you view time through five different psychological lenses.
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Until next week,
Thomas
Medium | Thinking Toolbox | The Write Life | How to Live: Lessons in Stoicism
Postanly Weekly is now a reader-supported publication. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $7 per month or $40 for an entire year. With a modest yearly contribution you’re not only helping keep Postanly Weekly going, you also get free access to Thinking Toolbox (mental models for life) and Mental Wealth Toolbox (practical concepts for smarter decisions).