What are feelings and emotions?

Before we begin this discourse, let us differentiate feelings and emotions.

Feelings are defined as an emotional state or reaction while emotions are
distinctive feeling distinguished from reasoning or knowledge. Simply put
emotions or feelings do not play a role in a human act and is no justifiable with
regard to moral decisions. As mentioned in many books human acts are human
action men perform knowingly, freely and voluntarily. Ergo a human act must be
these three qualifications a) he must be fully be aware of what he is doing or what
he will do, b) he used his freedom of choice to decide using his innate free will and
c) his decision is not coerced by ant outside factor. Feelings and emotions are one
and the same for it plays merely to the weakness of men which some sociologist
dubbed as “human frailties”. It can never be used as an excuse for our negative
actions for if we allow our emotions to “decide” then we are not acting as human
beings. Brutes reacts only to mere instincts for they lack reason, emotions are
devoid of reason and rely to spur-of-the-moment decision or the mood of the doer.
The Ethics of Love
Many people are confused between love and emotions. We think that
emotions are strong because of love for it propels people to feel it. We have to
refute this perverted claim, in the scientific world emotions can be seen through the
face of the doer (see emoticons) from there we can discern happiness, sadness ,
anger and content but what moves them, it is not love but drives. By drives me
mean the cravings of men that they simply can’t do without such as hunger, need
for sex, companionship and the likes. From these needs man developed a desire to
acquire them by any means possible and emotions are born, if we succeed in doing
so we felt happy or contented if not it lead to frustration that may later result into
anger or sadness. These craving of man boosted his competitive nature that he
won’t stop until he achieved it. In short, emotions are simply attachments that
resulted due to man’s desires. Love on the other hand is an intense feeling of deep
affection that is also a drive but compared to emotion which is solely for self-
aggrandizement, love does not necessarily have to be reciprocated. Man can love
another person, thing or event even if it does not render love in return. In relation
to love when it comes to moral decision such love is acceptable just as long as it is
guided by morality and reason.
Vice and Virtue
 Socrates once said that, “knowledge is virtue and ignorance is vice”. We got
these things from the habits we obtain from dealing with people in our everyday
lives. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is
valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being while vice is the opposite
if what we know as vice. Different from feelings, this is not a spur-of -the-moment
affair, this develops as man progressed intellectually and physically. Bad habits
develop into vice that as mentioned earlier the opposite of virtue.

Moral-Values – are those pertaining to the functions of t he intellect and the

will – that may be our choices, decisions and actions that became habits. This will
develop spiritual growth that is part of human perfection. Moral values have the
following characteristics a) they have intrinsic work – they are good acts in
themselves without any shadow of doubts, b) they are universally accepted by all
people and c) they are obligatory which means everyone is expected to abide by it
considering that it is a universally accepted good.
Guidelines for choosing values:
1. Paramount or lasting values over temporal ones
2. Values favored by the majority instead by a few individuals
3. Essential values must be preferred over the accidental
4.Moral values must be preferred over physical values