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Educating the emotions

Educating the emotions

Spirituality

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"To teach virtue we must educate the emotions, and this means learning 'what to feel' in the various circumstances that prompt them."

~ Roger Scruton [this may be a trilogy of new threads]

Is he right?

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@fmf said
"To teach virtue we must educate the emotions, and this means learning 'what to feel' in the various circumstances that prompt them." ~ Roger Scruton

Is he right?
Another words, we must suppress our desire for pleasure and happiness, and embrace hard work and suffering.
That's exactly what I would teach if I was a sociopathic land Lord.

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@bunnyknight said
Another words, we must suppress our desire for pleasure and happiness, and embrace hard work and suffering.
That's exactly what I would teach if I was a sociopathic land Lord.
I think the quote might be better scrutinized through the prism of, say, raising children or something similar, rather than through the prism of someone renting land or a building to a tenant.

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@bunnyknight said
Another words, we must suppress our desire for pleasure and happiness, and embrace hard work and suffering.
Desire (or craving) and happiness, yes. And then these emotions too, for example excitement, joy, sadness, surprise, disgust, contempt, anger, fear, guilt, and shame. From a quick browse, I see that 27 seems to be a consensus calculation of the number of emotions! Some missing from the above list include amusement, boredom, confusion, anxiety, envy, awkwardness, and sympathy.

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@fmf said
I think the quote might be better scrutinized through the prism of, say, raising children or something similar, rather than through the prism of someone renting land or a building to a tenant.
Oh, I've seen many children raised under very strict so-called "morality", only to wind up neurotic, confused and angry, leading to a life-long alcohol addiction, drugs, suicide and even mass murder.

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@bunnyknight said
Oh, I've seen many children raised under very strict so-called "morality", only to wind up neurotic, confused and angry, leading to a life-long alcohol addiction, drugs, suicide and even mass murder.
And so, what lesson do you draw from this? Educating the emotions should not be part of the raising and socializing of children?

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@fmf said
Desire (or craving) and happiness, yes. And then these emotions too, for example excitement, joy, sadness, surprise, disgust, contempt, anger, fear, guilt, and shame. From a quick browse, I see that 27 seems to be a consensus calculation of the number of emotions! Some missing from the above list include amusement, boredom, confusion, anxiety, envy, awkwardness, and sympathy.
Here are some more of those "27" that are talked about: adoration, aesthetic appreciation, awe, calmness, empathetic pain, entrancement, horror, interest, nostalgia, satisfaction, sexual desire and triumph.

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@bunnyknight said
Oh, I've seen many children raised under very strict so-called "morality", only to wind up neurotic, confused and angry, leading to a life-long alcohol addiction, drugs, suicide and even mass murder.
It's good to see a new poster [i.e. not one of the regulars] being active here and I welcome you, at least on behalf of myself. I am trying to understand what you are reacting to with your two posts so far on this thread. Are you reacting to the word "virtue" in the OP?

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@fmf said
Here are some more of those "27" that are talked about: adoration, aesthetic appreciation, awe, calmness, empathetic pain, entrancement, horror, interest, nostalgia, satisfaction, sexual desire and triumph.
You forgot sexy

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@vartiovuori said
You forgot sexy
I think if someone is, for example, too "sexy" for their shirt, it is potentially empirical and intellectual and not in the realm of emotions.

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@fmf said
And so, what lesson do you draw from this? Educating the emotions should not be part of the raising and socializing of children?
"Educating" is not much different from "feeding". If you feed your child soda, candy-bars and fried meat, you basically guarantee that the child will become very sick. Same goes for "educating". You can do it right, or do it wrong. Get the idea?

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@bunnyknight said
You can do it right, or do it wrong. Get the idea?
Bears can poo in the woods right and bears can poo in the woods wrong. Is that the idea you want me to get?

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-Removed-
Our entire history is riddled with “sociopathic landlords” who worked people to death so they can enrich themselves with wealth and luxury. And while they preached the virtues of hard work and the promise of eternal life, they indulged in sins you can't imagine.

As for people snapping and committing suicide or mass-murder, it should be quite obvious even to a dummy that our society and its teachings are very flawed. We have a society that's both physically and mentally sick.