Implications of a feelings-first metaphysics?
What would be the implications on decision-making, beliefs, and actions of a metaphysics that is structured as follows?:
All beliefs, ideas, actions, etc. are driven by feelings.
Reasons are descriptions of feelings.
Language fails to fully capture the sensational qualities of feelings.
Decision-making, belief adoption, etc. cannot be bounded by language.
Some initial ideas:
-I act in a way that makes me feel a sense of balance.
-I believe what enables me to act in a way that makes me feel a sense of balance.
-I structure my perception of the world, decisions, and actions out of this goal-driven pursuit of feeling a sense of balance.
-I do not have access to information/ideas/actions/etc outside of this.
Here is a map of what this would look like:
Emotional Awareness branches out into Balance and Map.
OODA loop connects emotional awareness to the ideas of balance and of a map. I observe how I feel (emotional awareness), orient my map to fit this feeling, decide how to act / what to believe / what information to take in based on how the map makes me feel that I would feel more balanced, and act in accordance with the decision.
A few questions leap to mind.
1) How are you accounting for the fact that people do not experience the same feelings? Even among neurotypicals, there is wide variation in the response to the same stimuli.
2) The second of your initial ideas—you believe what enables you to act—seems to assume a utilitarian perspective on belief. Is that right?
3) There is a heavy emphasis on language—are you including mathematics in that description? Other forms of communication? Ritualized experiences? What is it bounded by, if not by language?
4) What is the goal here?
5) If you don’t have access to information outside of your feelings and these rules, how do you determine what actions make you feel a sense of balance?
What do you mean by “balance”?
Why optimise for the feeling of “balance”?