of logic & emotions

Humans will always be doomed to make irrational decisions because no action they make can ever be made devoid of emotion. This is because so called “rational” decisions are made on two simple premises—maximizing pleasure or minimizing pain. Following this train of thought, the feeling of pleasure or pain is an emotion thus any decision made by a human is a purely emotional one. This means that what is “rational” varies greatly from one person to another depending on what they find pleasurable or painful. I think many philosophers have tried to concrete what is pleasurable and what is painful in an effort to predict human behaviour. The most common hypothesis would probably be that the greatest pleasure is sex and the greatest pain is death but I simply don’t think that’s the case. Humans get pleasure out of doing many things that aren’t associated with sex, such as eating ice cream or listening to music. Also the greatest pain cannot be death because suicide simply could not be explained, nor could self-destructive behaviours such as chronic drug use and smoking. Furthermore humans can even feel pleasure when they have a controlled experience with death, such as bungee jumping, rock climbing or auto racing.

Extending this logic even more, the mere prospect of pleasure or the avoidance of pain can make someone act in a seemingly irrational manner to an observer, but to the doer their actions are perfectly rational. I call this term “irrational rational behavior.” The easiest example of irrational rational behaviors is when people do things in the name of love. Take for instance Bud Bundy from the television show Married with Children—there wasn’t anyway that he’d ever parachute out of airplane until a really beautiful woman said that skydiving is very sexy. In the next frame Bud Bundy had a parachute strapped to his back ready to jump. To Bud Bundy the mere prospect of pleasure was enough for him to do something that others may think is irrational.

I also think that there is a huge divide in what is rational when long term and short term pleasures and pains are compared. For instance what is instantly pleasurable may be painful in the long term, an easy example would be cigarette smoking—it’s pleasurable in the short term but detrimental to a person’s health in the long term. Another example would be people who are dieting but cheating and eating chocolate or some other high calorie foods and getting fat. Both examples can be rationalized using short term logic—the cigarette smoker may say that they need some way to release stress and the dieter may say that they earned it because they’ve been on a diet. Flipping this order on its head, long term goals can sometimes overshadow short term goals—saving money can make you comfortable in old age but could make current life seem a bit frugal and uninteresting. Thus even something that is rational to someone can also be irrational to them.

You’re now probably convinced that humans cannot make any rational decisions and wondering what my point was. What I’m trying to say is if you embrace your emotions rather than thinking of them as a curse you can be more true to what will be ultimately pleasurable. This means that you’re able to live your life more true to yourself and make decisions that you will find truly pleasurable rather than following what others tell is the “rational” course in life. People may tell you that it’s “rational” to become a computer engineer or lawyer or something else because the pay is good or whatnot, but listen to your feelings first and foremost. Don’t be afraid to try something new even if it is against the norm. Then again, take my advice with a grain of salt – it may not be “rational” for you to follow it.