Logic Vs. Emotion (tok Paper)
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“What to do when your head says go but your heart says no.” It can be firstly established that the head refers to the logical thinking mind and the heart refers to the intrapersonal emotions. This statement simply questions the reliability of logic/reason versus the reliability of emotions. Logic and emotions are both considered a way of knowing and are both used in various areas of knowledge. However, how we use and view them are quite different. Firstly, I wish to discuss these ways of knowing individually; what exactly they are in the sense of knowledge; why we as humans need them and how we apply them. Then based on knowledge of TOK and personal insight, I wish to compare them and deduce whether one is a stronger way of knowing over the other.
We are known to be logical beings for we consciously and subconsciously use logic and reasoning everyday in our lives. We have the ability to analyze a limited amount of information and draw true conclusions from them. We classify some logical cognitive processing into syllogisms. Hypothetical syllogism (If A then B) is an example: If Pete drives a car, he is above 16. He does drive a car therefore the consequent is guaranteed (he is above 16). There are various other syllogisms which we use and understand such as categorical syllogisms (All A is B). We may say: Asia is on Earth, Singapore is in Asia therefore Singapore is on Earth. Our minds can cognitively process these kinds of syllogisms which helps us in all the areas of knowledge. Another aspect of logic is deductive and inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is the analysis of an area of knowledge by which its occurrence is certain. This is the subconscious aspect of our logical mind. We know and are certain of things such as the sun rising and the appearance of our faces in the morning for those are things that have always existed for individuals and never have been different. This leads to the concept of inductive reasoning whereby we are able to draw patterns and foresee possible outcomes though they may not be certain. For example, we may think today is going to rain due to the fact that it has rained every day since four days ago. These cognitive processes allow us to filter things that are important and things that can be ignored. Logic plays an important role in most areas of knowledge save maybe ethics and arts. Logic is imperative, especially for sciences and math that solely rely on logical thinking, reasoning and the ability to draw patterns; all of this is to do with true, justified answers (quite like knowledge: true justified belief).
Emotion is a way of knowing that is rarely associated with the way we attain knowledge as it is the mood or temperament of our physical selves. One usually sees attaining knowledge through perhaps logic or language. However, emotion is a way of knowing in the sense that it allows us to have a connection with what we know and