"Older sisters are irksome." This personal knowledge claim derives directly from emotion. My sister often changes the TV channel when I'm watching it, gets into arguments with me over food or other petty things, and often snaps at me even when I'm trying to be nice. These actions make me frustrated, which often leads to anger because of the annoying habits my sister has. In my angry state, I believe that all my sister like all other older sisters have the common trait of being irksome simply for the sake of angering their brothers. Of course, a fallacy in this thinking is that my sister isn't always annoying and doesn't purposefully seek to irk me. It is also unfair to assume that all older sisters carry a similar trait.
Identify a global knowledge issue that includes emotion as part of the 'knowledge construct'.
"We should pity homeless people." Homeless or other less fortunate people are abundant all around the world, and a common sentiment towards them is that they deserve our pity. We see them living on the streets, often dirty and with little possessions. This triggers sadness within us, but because it is sadness due to an external image it is expressed towards the homeless person as pity. The pity often leads people to donate to homeless shelters or other charities in the hope that the sadness will go away. A fallacy in this thinking is that some homeless people want or choose to be homeless because they enjoy the lifestyle, and thus do not want pity.
Can there be 'correct' or 'appropriate' emotional responses? For example, is it correct to be horrified by accounts of torture?
I do not believe there is a 'correct' emotional response - everyone is different and therefore entitled to their own emotions and resulting thoughts or opinions - but I do believe that there are emotional responses more appropriate than others. Like the example of torture; it is more appropriate to be horrified by pain or torture than to take pleasure in it, seeing as that is the common and widely accepted sentiment, but it is not incorrect to enjoy torture.
Is the knowledge gained from an emotional construct influenced by culture? Are concepts such as patriotism and racism examples of collective emotions?
Culture does have very much to do with our emotional responses to situations. For example, in some cultures when someone points at you, you would automatically feel embarrassed and offended due to the high regard for humility in that society. In American culture, pointing at someone doesn't usually carry emotional triggers, although depending on the situation it can induce happiness, fear, excitement, anxiety, etc. It varies though, as opposed to a culture in which pointing is strictly bad. Patriotism and racism are examples of collective emotions crafted by a culture; if your culture chooses to feel angry towards black people or hate them, then usually you will grown up with racist tendencies towards black people.
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