It is a view often aired that emotion and logic are opposites; indeed, while it has many variations, they are found almost everywhere in expressions as common as “control yourself”, which demands conscious (likely reasonable and logical) control over irrational, emotion-driven actions. This is connected to the related point that the “logical” reaction in a situation is often equated with one which best minimizes risk, best achieves one’s long-term goals, or is the most selfish.
Nevertheless, I believe that this perspective may be somewhat misleading. To begin with, it is perhaps important to consider what emotion actually is, with relation to our thoughts. Some aspects of emotions are perhaps independent of thoughts, albeit observed by them, such as feeling physically weak, pained, or energetic. Secondly, however, whether because of the emotion, or as a part of it, one’s priorities change, as does their capacity and inclination to spend time reasoning logically. This is to say, while the more physical “feeling” of hunger, such as stomach pain cannot, in itself, cause one to eat, it can cause one’s thoughts to turn to food—how it may be gotten and eaten. One may be disinclined to spend hours considering whether mozzarella or cheddar is the better cheese for a sandwich, but simply eat whichever is most readily available (or both). However, I would argue that the choice of a potentially inferior cheese does not indicate so much a lack of logic—since the extra seconds spent deciding may contribute to a more pleasant eating experience—but rather from a change in the “end goal” that the logic aims to bring about. After all, logic is only useful to us to the extent that it can help us to act in a beneficial way.
When you are hungry, how exactly the cheese you eat tastes is not particularly important; it is simply important that you eat quickly. Ultimately, it is not reasonable or logical to spend unnecessary time considering the optimal cheese choice, since the cost of waiting is probably greater than the potential cost of choosing the “wrong” cheese. Thus, it may well be that spending several minutes to choose the right cheese is worse than taking the wrong one but eating it straight away. In this sense, it can be extrapolated that emotion does not replace, but rather directs logic. Logic is indeed a tool in the service of emotions. While some emotions, thus, may dictate that logic be employed toward selfish ends, or to plan for the future. It is not logic which is selfish, or far-sighted, or careful, but merely that the same emotions which cause one to want to be careful or far-sighted tend to be felt when one has time to spend reasoning things out, and also that those emotions often cause people to want to do so. It is also noteworthy that fury, fear, and other emotions which demand immediate action, while not encouraging long chains of reasoning, cause people to “think fast”, and often in a very focused way, as critical decisions have to be made in a short period of time. Indeed, sudden, abrupt bouts of fear can even cause one to experience time almost in slow motion, long chains of logic and reasoning packed into split seconds.
With this understanding, seeing how emotion does not replace logic, but rather employs it to different extents and for different purposes, we can confront the view that logic may replace emotions. Quite simply, logic is useless without a goal to achieve. If one is truly devoid of emotions, one will not attempt to engage in anything, including logical processes. Even if, for some reason, an action were taken, no action can be considered “better” than any other without a feeling to tell one so. Even if something were done, logic could not be used since logic can only tell one how to act if one aims to accomplish something. Without emotions, however, aims are impossible thus rendering logic unusable. Thus it is perhaps most useful to not think of logic and emotion as separate, but rather as altogether different but interdependent aspects of decision making.
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