If there is no God, and we evolved from animals...?

Question

Please explain where our emotions came from.
*This is an extension of a question I asked before, and I would like more clarification from Atheists/those who do not believe in Intelligent Design.

The answers I was given before almost entirely stated that emotions ARE animalistic, and that they evolved along with the animal until we became humans and our brains were large & complex enough to use the emotions that had evolved.

I beg to differ. The below excerpts are from Dictionary.Com and Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.

animalistic - of or pertaining to animalism.
an•i•mal•ism -
1. Enjoyment of vigorous health and physical drives.
2. Indifference to all but the physical appetites.
3. The doctrine that humans are merely animals with no spiritual nature

TO BE CONT.

e•mo•tion -
1.an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness
2. any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.
3. any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc., and usually accompanied by certain physiological changes, as increased heartbeat or respiration, and often overt manifestation, as crying or shaking.

e•mo•tion -
1.A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling: the emotions of joy, sorrow, reverence, hate, and love.
2.A state of mental agitation or disturbance: spoke unsteadily in a voice that betrayed his emotion.

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If an emotion is in fact "spontaneous" isnt it completely IMPOSSIBLE for it to have evolved?

spon·ta·ne·ous
1. coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation; natural and unconstrained; unplanned: a spontaneous burst of applause.
2. (of a person) given to acting upon sudden impulses.
3. (of natural phenomena) arising from internal forces or causes; independent of external agencies; self-acting.
4. growing naturally or without cultivation, as plants and fruits; indigenous.
5. produced by natural process.

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Wouldnt it be Impossible for emotions to have evolved as "animals" needed them? Shouldnt they have already been hardwired into the brain? How then, can an animal have harbored emotions, and evolved emotions that they do not use. They would have rendered them useless.

I stick to the fact that emotions are entirely human, and were given to humans exclusively. Please prove to me otherwise.

Answer 1

Your question is irrational in the first place. The logical error is the either or fallacy; I for one don't believe in god or evolution. The rejection of one doesn’t necessitate the other; they are not opposites.

Your question also implies certain answers before proof of such sources is validated. For instance, you ask where do emotions “come from”? This means you have some preexisting “thing” you believe that directs your answer (either a supernatural being in the case of religion or emotions ‘evolved’ in the case of evolution). However, neither god nor evolution has been proven (and they never will cause neither is true) so the question is illogical.

Answer 2

Forget about posting the mirriam webster versions of emotion. The bottom line is that emotions are natural chemical reactions . In some cases they produce tears and in others they produce blushing and so on. They are truly powerful and if anyone thinks they came from evo, thats their opinion. I, personally know they could only come from a wonderful creator.

I wonder why the small of a woman's back or as the french say "la differance" is neccessary. none of those cosmetic features have anything to do with survival of the species, but let the evos have their fun.

Answer 3

if you think you will get a full and satisfying answer here, your mistaken. it is a very complex subject and it is one that you need to study in depth. if you are really interested in getting an answer to this question you will go and read a book like, 'learning and emotion: a biological synthesis, vol.1' by p.j. livesey. if you are not then, you will not bother reading it. the trouble is i find that people want easy, 'sound-bite' answers to very complex subjects and can't be bothered studying the subject. the book will explain the evolution of emotion, and back it up with experimental, peer reviewed evidence that can be referenced and validated. it's not a complete answer but it clears some of the fog.

Answer 4

If you don't like the answer, you shouldn't ask the question. The fact is, that all emotional activity has been traced to chemical activity in the brain. There is no "soul" or "spirit" that resides in us. Everything we are has evolved from what has gone before. The "how" is not totally understood, but the fact of emotions coming from the brain is not in doubt (we don't fully understand the "how" of gravity, yet gravity is a fact not a "gift").

Answer 5

You are nit-picking someone's choice of words. This does not invalidate the idea they are trying to get across.

I am understanding from your question that you believe emotions were designed (if I am wrong, please correct me). Thus, the only answer I need to give is actually a question: Where did this designer get his or her emotions? Clearly, they were not given to them by a designer. The fact of the designer having emotions proves that emotions come about without the intervention of a designer. So, they came about from nothing, just as the designer did, unless you want to argue that the designer has no emotions.

As for evolution of emotions, this is referring mostly to our instincts and the increasingly complex way we cater to them. We need to continue the species, this is a base instinct, so we needed a way to tell us to procreate, to be attracted to another human. At first these chemical reactions caused simple thoughts of "mate with this human". Over time, competition and the availability of more fertile mates forced this chemical reaction to be interpreted in more and more complex ways - i.e. our emotions - in order to lead us to the most suitable mate . In addition, our children are born very vulnerable. In order for the species to survive, parents needed to feel some dedication to their offspring so that they would provide for them until they were capable of providing for themselves. Thus, more instinct evolving into emotion.

All emotions stem from our need to fulfill these instincts. Fear, love, hate, desire, etc. all survival. As our social interactions became more complex, so did these emotions.

It is really a very simple concept if you think about it.

Answer 6

Who says emotions are strictly a human experience. I believe many animals often exhibit the all the indications of having strong emotions. Certainly, this is difficult to prove in a scientific sense because how to measure emotion? There is the risk of anthropomorphic attribution. You can't just dismiss it though as there is much observational evidence to highly suggest it is so. How to explain things like the way a mother elephant will cradle her dead child in her trunk and rock it gently while other elephants gather round and touch them gently with their trunks? It sure seems like animals have emotions to me. I think we evolved emotions as have many animals to differing degrees as a way of functioning as social creatures.

Answer 7

If we came from animals, we probably came from several different ones. I know someone, for instance, that I'm certain came from a skunk down the line, having very skunky characteristics. I also know several women who definitely came from cats. (Meow!) Then there are those who came from warthogs. They are everywhere, guzzling and eating and watching TV. Some are a mixture, like me.

So you see, there's all the proof you need.

Answer 8

Good luck trying to find an atheist to rebuke all your intell on the cold ,hard facts. Intelligent design is reality.YOU WIN.

Answer 9

I don't understand how you think that emotions are exclusive to humans. Have you not been to the zoo? Have you not watched the National Geographic or Discovery channels when they explore animal behaviors???? I have done both and I have seen animals myself with plenty of displayed emotions. I have met plenty of dog owners that tell me how emotional their dogs get, whether they are sad when they are left alone, or whether they are happy when their owners get home. These are nothing but pure emotions. You argument is flawed.

Answer 10

Humans undoubtably evolve, without any question. Emotions are simply a product of our brains. And I guess I would ask you how do know that animals do not experience emotions? I would say they most definitely do but probably not to the extent that humans (with larger and more complex brains) do.