tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6566517520449913392.post5358229755669849525..comments2023-05-23T07:57:10.351-05:00Comments on Cyberhetoric: Fear FactorAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02089516760857811219noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6566517520449913392.post-8452736461031284522011-02-07T19:23:40.267-06:002011-02-07T19:23:40.267-06:00I had the same questions regarding Aristotle’s def...I had the same questions regarding Aristotle’s definition of fear. I too feel it is an inadequate and limiting definition. How would Aristotle explain the fear associated with scary movies, spiders, commitment, and public speaking (like you’ve mentioned)? We are all very aware of the fact that these things cannot endanger or harm us, yet these things are commonly feared. Maybe we are having trouble with Aristotle’s definition of fear because he has not discussed other emotions closely related to fear as you have mentioned like anxiety or paranoia. Emotions are so much more complex than Aristotle realizes. I also agree with your argument that there is no such thing as being within a pure state of an emotion. I’m sure we’ve all experienced that rush of emotions when we get hit with a lot of information at once and don’t even have the time to figure out how we really feel about everything.Samanthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01984398869168793513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6566517520449913392.post-17153283875615594802011-02-02T21:26:07.635-06:002011-02-02T21:26:07.635-06:00One point on what you said near the end about ange...One point on what you said near the end about anger: it's true that Aristotle write that anger is accompanied by pain, but he also emphasizes that anger "must always be attended by a certain pleasure - that which arises from the expectation of revenge" (1378). I do agree that Aristotle's definitions of emotions are somewhat too rigid, but I also agree with what Sean said about Aristotle's definitions having a practical application.Eric Yoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16013359050783769355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6566517520449913392.post-42952314097842968142011-02-01T10:57:31.548-06:002011-02-01T10:57:31.548-06:00Very interesting thoughts about fear. The relivin...Very interesting thoughts about fear. The reliving of certain memories does seem to exist outside of his definition. I especially like where you say the following:<br /><br />"Emotions are not something which are possessed one second and dispensed with another but occur as processual encounters and with varying intensities." <br /><br />This validates the idea that emotion is an underlying consistent variable and does not come and go in the changing of circumstance.Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11718540441880175722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6566517520449913392.post-88403462995393962232011-02-01T01:14:53.715-06:002011-02-01T01:14:53.715-06:00I would agree with your argument that there is pro...I would agree with your argument that there is probably no such thing as a pure state of emotion. The mind and human behaviors are simply too complex to be focused entirely upon a single way of thinking or feeling at once, even if we often tend to try and ignore any conflicting feelings. I do believe however that what Aristotle is arguing here still holds water from a practical point. Some emotions in certain situations are particularly dominant over others, and fear in particular often generates creates a very strong grip on people. In these cases for the practical rhetor (read: Someone who has read Aristotle) the emotional context can then be diagnosed, properly understood and acted upon.Sean Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03491253873994899323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6566517520449913392.post-13720678160711030792011-02-01T00:03:34.526-06:002011-02-01T00:03:34.526-06:00You're right on about fear. It's interesti...You're right on about fear. It's interesting that we often fear things that may result in a reward or pleasure, but maybe it's more than that. I would think that every individual's fear is rooted from different moments in a person's life that have transformed into memories, which have then transformed into phobias. Fear is our protection from the past, not necessarily something evil or painful that is waiting in the future, like Aristotle suggested. I think fear is an interior thing, derived from our insecurities and guilty conscious.RVLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03619411015769994569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6566517520449913392.post-70910313948445617132011-01-31T07:34:05.669-06:002011-01-31T07:34:05.669-06:00I agree that it's not possible to only have on...I agree that it's not possible to only have one emotion at a time-- we have such complexity of our brains, of chemical reactions in the body, and of stimuli that it's no wonder that there are multiple emotions going on all the time. I hope that Aristotle was breaking emotions down for the state of simplicity in his explanations, rather than trying to give hard-and-fast truths about opposite emotions being mutually exclusive.<br /><br />You make a good point about fear; truthfully, it seems like it's the more remote things that people are more afraid of. For instance, the ratio of kids killed in car accidents every year to kids who are kidnapped is crazy-high; cars kill more children than strangers. And yet if you ask the average parent, they'll tell you they're more afraid of their kid being kidnapped than of they dying in a car crash. On a personal level, I think that's because you at least feel some measure of control over your own car, while you can't do anything about a predator. Anyway, the point is that we find a way to be afraid of things that are far-off, sometimes even more so than things that are near.Suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11862479925124552922noreply@blogger.com