Essay Assignment
Write a 700-1000 word paper analyzing an emotional experience. The experience can be your own or that of another person. The experience should be one involving intense emotions such as self-defeating anger, anxiety, guilt, depression. Your analysis should identify and examine:
1. The elements of the emotional experience (emotional objects, bodily feelings, replaying of bodily feelings, behavioral changes, emotional reasoning).
2. The particular emotion/s in question (anger, guilt, anxiety, etc.) using the E=O + R formula (See examples of such definitions of emotions in your text, p. 8.)
3. The emotional reasoning. Formulate this reasoning using the standard form of emotion reasoning:
If O then R
O
So, R
For example, say O = my friend lied to me; and R = He is a rotten person. Then the emotional reasoning would be:
If my friend lied to me then he's a rotten person
My friend lied to me
So, he's a rotten person
(See reading on "Emotional Reasoning" and your text, pp. 14-17, for further details).
4. Identify any fallacies in the premises (refer to chapters 2-4 in your text, the definitions contained in Cardinal Fallacies, and your scanning records in Tell Walter); 5. Show how to refute these fallacies, that is, discuss why they are irrational.
6. Discuss how the situation leading to the emotion/s in question might have been more rationally managed using the theory of guiding virtues and other philosophical insights gleaned from the course (see discussions of guiding virtues in your text, chapters 2-4, and the link Guiding (Transcendent) Virtues.
7. Discuss a plan of action based on these philosophical insights.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.