Anger in Philosophy and Ethics
While Philosophy is where people seek to understand the fundamental truths about themselves, it also has fields that show different perspectives on how to look at certain things such as aesthetics, logic, ethics, metaphysics, value theory, and epistemology. By using Ethics, Metaphysics, and Epistemology, we can observe the different perspectives on what is anger and how we should control it.
Ethics is the study of morality displaying right from wrong. The ethics of anger that moves in the formation of the personal to the communal takes the steps of reflection and then action. Showing that the right thing to do while you are angry is to reflect on it and then act. The reason behind this is because usually if you just act on it, you are acting out of raw uncut emotion, rather when you reflect, you are thinking about it and trying to get a grasp on what is the “right” way of responding. According to Aristotle, “we cannot achieve that happiness without respecting and living by certain virtues. We can never combat injustice in the world because it cannot be challenged without defying one crucial virtue: good temperament.” Verifying that if we want to be happy and not always full of anger, we need to establish the most important virtue which is having good actions and reactions. If we use “good temperament” in our everyday lives, there will not be an issue of having or acting out in anger.
Socrates states that “people will naturally do what is good if they know what is right. Evil or bad actions are the results of ignorance. If a criminal were truly aware of the mental and spiritual, he would neither commit nor even consider committing these actions”. In other words, Socrates is pointing out that we all know about what we are doing from right and wrong. Therefore, if we do something amiss, then we don’t have the true awareness of our mentality and spiritual being. Looking through the study of ethics, it shows that you need to have a sense of your morality while going through the different changes of moods and knowing how to control it.
Anger in the Metaphysics Perspective
Metaphysics is the study of reality and being. Anger in the Metaphysics perspective is very different than the ethics. It stated that “Aristotle draws from our experience with fear and anger to argue that the affections of the soul and, therefore, the soul is inseparable from the body”. It shows that since the soul and body act as one, as well as we, gain our affections and when we start to get angry, that’s when the soul and the body join and have more affections. Aristotle says that “when we are in the grips of an emotion, or when we desire or sense-perceive, it appears, that our soul is acting and being affected with the body. Yet curiously, the argument provided later in the passage [D] exploits cases of fear and anger to show that the affections are shared.” By reading this information, we notice that when we are controlled by our emotions, the soul is joining with the body and affections and feelings are being displayed. This is why we prove our feelings and affections in different moods, like for example when we are happy, we smile and have an upbeat tone and when we are angry, we have a negative and sometimes show that angry with throwing or hitting things. During these actions, the body and soul are being affected together and showing how we feel internally.
Epistemology Perspective
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, truth, and belief. Epistemology shows that this perspective wants to take away the actions of anger entirely. In the book “Epistemology of arguments” it has a case against anger and a case for anger in the study of this field. The case against anger advises to “the elimination of anger, for in their view the beliefs and judgments that cause anger invariably prove wrongheaded upon later reflection. The wise person should control anger and respond instead with love.” They are stating that anger hurts judgment no matter how or why it is shown. Instead of displaying hate, we should display love. This might me affection but a negative kind of affection where it can most likely cause more harm than someone benefits from it. It also says that “Anger can serve the practical purpose of protecting self-respect, identifying wrongdoing, and fighting injustice, but it remains normatively inappropriate.” meaning that there can be a good purpose to have anger depending on if the reason is valid. However, it will still have a negative impact and inappropriate when you can express your feelings another way. In the book, the case for anger is that “Anger demonstrates epistemic value as it regularly signals for people that they are being harmed, devalued, or blocked in their objectives and persists until the problem is resolved.” This point of view shows us that having anger might be a more aggressive way, however, it will always be continued until it solves the issues that the person is having. This means that having anger can be good because it fixes what needs to be done to move on from it. Epistemology shows two different teachings on the topic of anger. It may be a negative and judgmental thing to have as a trait, however, it gets the job done when it needs to solve the problem.
Conclusion: Effects of Anger
By reading these different perspectives of anger in the three fields, we can see that there is a negative and positive impact on having anger. Ethics showed us that we need to be aware of the right and wrongs of our actions because then we will know not to commit wrongdoings and find our happiness. It first starts with how we control our anger which is the method “reflection and then action”. Then in the Metaphysics field, it displays our affections when our body and soul join and create the actions that we do out of anger. Lastly, in the Epistemology field, it shows the negative and positive beliefs and that anger can solve problems but be judgmental at the same time. These are all a part of our fundamental ideas about ourselves and the different perspectives of living. It shows a deeper and contrasting way of living.
