is knowing an emotion?

Question

or does it just create an emotion? is the sense of really 'knowing' something what you could refer to as an emotion? i'm looking for more of a factual answer than a philosophical one. thanks

interesting answers - but in regards to the last one - can you really call the 'feeling' of knowing something an emotion? because i always think of an emotion as the outcome of a series of electrical impulses and chemicals, but then there is the feeling of the emotion. so if you have the 'feeling' of knowing does that automatically make it an emotion? because everything has a 'feeling'. If you touch fur, you feel the sensation and then then there is the 'feeling' of having felt it. but fur is not an emotion. what does anyone think about that?

Answer 1

Knowing is perception.
Emotion is a response to what you perceive.

Answer 2

A factual answer about emotions? Hmmmm... well, here goes...

The way you put "knowing" in quotes makes me think that perhaps you mean the sensation of a deep understanding of something, a strong connection with something, catharsis, epiphany, revelation, that sort of thing.

In that case, the answer is yes. Because it's a feeling. Because you are moved by it. That would be an emotion.

However, if you just mean knowing as in assembling enough information about something, or even just understanding something, then like some of these answerers stated, the knowing isn't an emotion but it engenders many emotions.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

I would say that knowledge is an emotion. The feeling of knowing something to be true is very often a stimulus for action. In philosophy, there is often too much emphasis on working out the 'truth content' of knowledge. In actual fact, as Descartes showed, if we really examine our beliefs hard, we will realise that what we thought we knew is not altogether certain. However, it is confidence in our beliefs which enables us to get things done. Just as it's easier to get things done when we are happy, or at least content with life, and not depressed.
The sense of satisfaction is something else: it affects your self image as a successful person. There is a difference between saying 'I know a lot about mathematics' and taking pride in your abilities, but this is different to the feeling of knowing that you're late for a meeting, which is something direct and immediate, it's the actual emotion itself, just as someone treading on your toe would make you angry.

Answer 4

Do you mean "knowing" as in "intuition?" "I just knew when he walked in the door that he was the man I would marry." If so, then, no -- it's not an emotion. It is a sense of awareness and a talent for making connections unconsciously. Emotions may or may not be created in response to knowing.

Answer 5

Sometimes, you think you know the answer to a Q. and you say to yourself "I know this" but what you're really doing is trying to remember what you learned.

Knowing is an illusion...lol

You learn and you remember what you learned through many different processes and that's pretty much there is. Learn, learn, learn, and train your memory so it will serve you whenever you need to recall whatever you've learned.

PS. The only thing that you can really know is that you don't and can't know anything. I mean, you can know nothing...lol


Good luck!

Answer 6

Reccomended Reading on this Issue: Martha Nussbaum.

Answer 7

No. But emotion is a knowledge.

Emotional IQ studies.

Answer 8

It's an instinct. Behavior that is mediated by reactions below the conscious level. I knowingly knew what to do.

Answer 9

you can not feel knowledge therefore knowing something is not an emotion as well as it can not generate its own emotional response.

Answer 10

knowing things create emotion...knowing is just what is in your brain and the things you percieve...right?.....the emotions are what come after....