Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy , ideology , and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual . Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and advocating that the interests of the individual should gain precedence over the state or a social group, while opposing external interference upon one's own interests by society or institutions such as the government. Individualism makes the individual its focus, and so starts "with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation".
175-463: Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation . Loneliness is also described as social pain – a psychological mechanism that motivates individuals to seek social connections . It is often associated with a perceived lack of connection and intimacy. Loneliness overlaps and yet is distinct from solitude . Solitude is simply the state of being apart from others; not everyone who experiences solitude feels lonely. As
350-456: A metaphysical position, solipsism goes further to the conclusion that the world and other minds do not exist. Solipsism is the only epistemological position that, by its own postulate , is both irrefutable and yet indefensible in the same manner. Although the number of individuals sincerely espousing solipsism has been small, it is not uncommon for one philosopher to accuse another's arguments of entailing solipsism as an unwanted consequence, in
525-434: A big role in emotions. He suggested that physiological reactions contributed to emotional experience by facilitating a focused cognitive appraisal of a given physiologically arousing event and that this appraisal was what defined the subjective emotional experience. Emotions were thus a result of two-stage process: general physiological arousal, and experience of emotion. For example, the physiological arousal, heart pounding, in
700-534: A catch-all term to passions , sentiments and affections . The word "emotion" was coined in the early 1800s by Thomas Brown and it is around the 1830s that the modern concept of emotion first emerged for the English language. "No one felt emotions before about 1830. Instead they felt other things – 'passions', 'accidents of the soul', 'moral sentiments' – and explained them very differently from how we understand emotions today." Some cross-cultural studies indicate that
875-756: A certain proposition and which have no objective reality in and of themselves. Ethical subjectivism stands in opposition to moral realism , which claims that moral propositions refer to objective facts, independent of human opinion; to error theory , which denies that any moral propositions are true in any sense; and to non-cognitivism , which denies that moral sentences express propositions at all. The most common forms of ethical subjectivism are also forms of moral relativism , with moral standards held to be relative to each culture or society, i.e. cultural relativism , or even to every individual. The latter view, as put forward by Protagoras , holds that there are as many distinct scales of good and evil as there are subjects in
1050-680: A community, and self-esteem is one's estimate of one's status. Somatic theories of emotion claim that bodily responses, rather than cognitive interpretations, are essential to emotions. The first modern version of such theories came from William James in the 1880s. The theory lost favor in the 20th century, but has regained popularity more recently due largely to theorists such as John T. Cacioppo , Antonio Damasio , Joseph E. LeDoux and Robert Zajonc who are able to appeal to neurological evidence. In his 1884 article William James argued that feelings and emotions were secondary to physiological phenomena. In his theory, James proposed that
1225-552: A continuum of intensity. Thus fear might range from mild concern to terror or shame might range from simple embarrassment to toxic shame. Emotions have been described as consisting of a coordinated set of responses, which may include verbal, physiological , behavioral, and neural mechanisms. Emotions have been categorized , with some relationships existing between emotions and some direct opposites existing. Graham differentiates emotions as functional or dysfunctional and argues all functional emotions have benefits. In some uses of
1400-446: A degree of pleasure or displeasure . There is no scientific consensus on a definition. Emotions are often intertwined with mood , temperament , personality , disposition , or creativity . Research on emotion has increased over the past two decades, with many fields contributing, including psychology , medicine , history , sociology of emotions , computer science and philosophy . The numerous attempts to explain
1575-419: A difference in tastes between people or times is the terminus of the argument: the problem is abandoned at this point to whoever studies and explains tastes (psychologists? anthropologists? phrenologists? sociobiologists?). On our preferred interpretation, one never reaches this impasse: the economist continues to search for differences in prices or incomes to explain any differences or changes in behavior. "With
1750-433: A distinction, relevant in this context, between guilt societies (e.g. medieval Europe ) with an "internal reference standard" and shame societies (e.g. Japan, "bringing shame upon one's ancestors") with an "external reference standard", where people look to their peers for feedback on whether an action is acceptable or not. Individualism is often contrasted either with totalitarianism or with collectivism , but there
1925-399: A family gathering or with friends, is experiencing chronic loneliness. The existentialist school of thought views individuality as the essence of being human . Each human being comes into the world alone, travels through life as a separate person, and ultimately dies alone. Coping with this, accepting it, and learning how to direct our own lives with some degree of grace and satisfaction is
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#17328758273792100-618: A form of negative affect, loneliness shores up the alienation, isolation, and pathologization of black gay men during the 1980s and early 1990s. But loneliness is also a form of bodily desire, a yearning for an attachment to the social and for a future beyond the forces that create someone's alienation and isolation." Possibly over 5% of the population of the industrial countries experience loneliness at levels which are harmful to physical and mental health, though scientists have expressed caution over making such claims with high confidence. Thousands of studies and surveys have been undertaken to assess
2275-562: A form of organisation in place of the state . Egoist anarchists argue that egoism will foster genuine and spontaneous union between individuals. Egoism has inspired many interpretations of Stirner's philosophy, but it has also gone beyond Stirner within anarchism. It was re-discovered and promoted by German philosophical anarchist and LGBT activist John Henry Mackay . John Beverley Robinson wrote an essay called "Egoism" in which he states that "Modern egoism, as propounded by Stirner and Nietzsche , and expounded by Ibsen , Shaw and others,
2450-495: A further loss of human connection if he then goes on to split up with his remaining friends. Those other friends now become lonelier too, leading to a ripple effect of loneliness. Studies have however found that this contagion effect is not consistent – a small increase in loneliness does not always cause the maladaptive cognition. Also, when someone loses a friend, they will sometimes form new friendships or deepen other existing relationships. Studies have tended to find
2625-486: A hostile universe, and cultural loneliness – typically found among immigrants who miss their home culture. These types are less well studied than the threefold separation into social, romantic and family loneliness, yet can be valuable in understanding the experience of certain subgroups with loneliness. Lockdown loneliness Lockdown loneliness refers to "loneliness resulting because of social disconnection due to enforced social distancing and lockdowns during
2800-883: A low population density , with fewer people for them to interact with. Loneliness can sometimes even be caused by events that might normally be expected to alleviate it: for example the birth of a child (if there is significant postpartum depression ) or after getting married (especially if the marriage turns out to be unstable, overly disruptive to previous relationships, or emotionally cold.) In addition to being impacted by external events, loneliness can be aggravated by pre-existing mental health conditions like chronic depression and anxiety . Long term loneliness can cause various types of maladaptive social cognition, such as hypervigilance and social awkwardness , which can make it harder for an individual to maintain existing relationships or establish new ones. Various studies have found that therapy targeted at addressing this maladaptive cognition
2975-509: A moderate correlation between extensive internet use and loneliness, especially ones that draw on data from the 1990s, before internet use became widespread. Contradictory results have been found by studies investigating whether the association is simply a result of lonely people being more attracted to the internet or if the internet can actually cause loneliness. The displacement hypothesis holds that some people choose to withdraw from real world social interactions so they can have more time for
3150-422: A moral agent should treat one's self (also known as the subject ) with no higher regard than one has for others (as egoism does, by elevating self-interests and "the self" to a status not granted to others), but that one also should not (as altruism does) sacrifice one's own interests to help others' interests, so long as one's own interests (i.e. one's own desires or well-being ) are substantially-equivalent to
3325-607: A motive to any action of the will… it can never oppose passion in the direction of the will… The reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them". With these lines, Hume attempted to explain that reason and further action would be subject to the desires and experience of the self. Later thinkers would propose that actions and emotions are deeply interrelated with social, political, historical, and cultural aspects of reality that would also come to be associated with sophisticated neurological and physiological research on
3500-418: A need for deep attachments, which can be fulfilled by close friends, though more often by close family members such as parents, and later in life by romantic partners. In 1997, Enrico DiTommaso and Barry Spinner separated emotional loneliness into Romantic and Family loneliness. A 2019 study found that emotional loneliness significantly increased the likelihood of death for older adults living alone (whereas there
3675-399: A pattern of physiological response (increased heart rate, faster breathing, etc.), which is interpreted as a particular emotion (fear). This theory is supported by experiments in which by manipulating the bodily state induces a desired emotional state. Some people may believe that emotions give rise to emotion-specific actions, for example, "I'm crying because I'm sad", or "I ran away because I
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#17328758273793850-441: A person taking part in society attempts to learn and discover what their own interests are on a personal basis, without a presumed following of the interests of a societal structure (an individualist need not be an egoist ). The individualist does not necessarily follow one particular philosophy. They may create an amalgamation of elements of many philosophies, based on personal interests in particular aspects that they find of use. On
4025-448: A person thinks they are lonely, then they are lonely. People can be lonely while in solitude, or in the middle of a crowd. What makes a person lonely is their perceived need for more social interaction or a certain type or quality of social interaction that is not currently available. A person can be in the middle of a party and feel lonely due to not talking to enough people. Conversely, one can be alone and not feel lonely; even though there
4200-573: A person's mood and increase feelings of loneliness, it also helped to improve their cognitive state , such as improving concentration . It can be argued some individuals seek solitude for discovering a more meaningful and vital existence. Furthermore, once the alone time was over, people's moods tended to increase significantly. Solitude is also associated with other positive growth experiences, religious experiences, and identity building such as solitary quests used in rites of passages for adolescents. Another important typology of loneliness focuses on
4375-551: A response to an evoking stimulus, the sight of a bear in the kitchen. The brain then quickly scans the area, to explain the pounding, and notices the bear. Consequently, the brain interprets the pounding heart as being the result of fearing the bear. With his student, Jerome Singer , Schachter demonstrated that subjects can have different emotional reactions despite being placed into the same physiological state with an injection of epinephrine. Subjects were observed to express either anger or amusement depending on whether another person in
4550-643: A romantic partner. Psychologists have asserted that the formation of a committed romantic relationship is a critical development task for young adults but is also one that many are delaying into their late 20s or beyond. People in romantic relationships tend to report less loneliness than single people, provided their relationship provides them with emotional intimacy. People in unstable or emotionally cold romantic partnerships can still feel romantic loneliness. Several other typologies and types of loneliness exist. Further types of loneliness include existential loneliness, cosmic loneliness – feeling alone in
4725-410: A snake. Individualism Individualism is often defined in contrast to communitarianism , collectivism and corporatism . Individualism has been used as a term denoting "[t]he quality of being an individual; individuality", related to possessing "[a]n individual characteristic; a quirk ". Individualism is also associated with artistic and bohemian interests and lifestyles where there
4900-488: A societal level, the individualist participates on a personally structured political and moral ground. Independent thinking and opinion is a necessary trait of an individualist. Jean-Jacques Rousseau , claims that his concept of general will in The Social Contract is not the simple collection of individual wills and that it furthers the interests of the individual (the constraint of law itself would be beneficial for
5075-451: A steady 8% rise in agreement with the statement "I often feel very lonely" between 2009 and 2021, responses indicating "strongly agree" rose steadily by over 20% in that same time period. This is a reversal of the trend seen from the start of the survey in 2001 until 2009 where these figures had both been steadily decreasing. Loneliness was exacerbated by the isolating effects of social distancing , stay-at-home orders , and deaths during
5250-433: A subject with ventromedial frontal lobe damage described in the book Descartes' Error , Damasio demonstrated how loss of physiological capacity for emotion resulted in the subject's lost capacity to make decisions despite having robust faculties for rationally assessing options. Research on physiological emotion has caused modern neuroscience to abandon the model of emotions and rationality as opposing forces. In contrast to
5425-469: A subjective emotion, loneliness can be felt even when a person is surrounded by other people. The causes of loneliness are varied. Loneliness can be a result of genetic inheritance, cultural factors, a lack of meaningful relationships, a significant loss, an excessive reliance on passive technologies (notably the Internet in the 21st century), or a self-perpetuating mindset. Research has shown that loneliness
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5600-432: A theistic origin to humanity. God who created humans gave humans the ability to feel emotion and interact emotionally. Biblical content expresses that God is a person who feels and expresses emotion. Though a somatic view would place the locus of emotions in the physical body, Christian theory of emotions would view the body more as a platform for the sensing and expression of emotions. Therefore, emotions themselves arise from
5775-571: A theme in literature, going back to the Epic of Gilgamesh . However, academic coverage of loneliness was sparse until recent decades. In the 21st century, some academics and professionals have claimed that loneliness has become an epidemic, including Vivek Murthy , the Surgeon General of the United States . Loneliness has long been viewed as a universal condition which, at least to a moderate extent,
5950-444: A theory of individual and collective individuation in which the individual subject is considered as an effect of individuation rather than a cause. Thus, the individual atom is replaced by a never-ending ontological process of individuation. Individuation is an always incomplete process, always leaving a "pre-individual" left-over, itself making possible future individuations. The philosophy of Bernard Stiegler draws upon and modifies
6125-410: A time when a whole lot of the human attention is focused on electronic devices, it is a challenge. Loneliness is a very common, though often temporary, consequence of a relationship breakup or bereavement . The loss of a significant person in one's life will typically initiate a grief response ; in this situation, one might feel lonely, even while in the company of others. Loneliness can occur due to
6300-600: A way to reassert the importance of human individuality and freedom. Nietzsche's concept of the superman is closely related to the idea of individualism and the pursuit of one's own unique path and potential. As is seen in the following quote, the concept of superman reflects Nietzsche's emphasis on the need to overcome traditional moral and societal norms in order to achieve personal growth and self-realization: Freethought holds that individuals should not accept ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason . Thus, freethinkers strive to build their opinions on
6475-517: Is 'good' or 'bad'. Alternatively, there are 'good emotions' (like joy and caution) experienced by those that are wise, which come from correct appraisals of what is 'good' and 'bad'. Aristotle believed that emotions were an essential component of virtue . In the Aristotelian view all emotions (called passions) corresponded to appetites or capacities. During the Middle Ages , the Aristotelian view
6650-408: Is a bidirectional causal relationship between loneliness and internet use. Excessive use, especially if passive, can increase loneliness. While moderate use, especially by users who engage with others rather than just passively consume content, can increase social connection and reduce loneliness. Smaller early studies had estimated that loneliness may be between 37–55% hereditable. However, in 2016,
6825-425: Is a felt tendency impelling people towards attractive objects and propelling them to move away from repulsive or harmful objects; a disposition to possess the object (greed), to destroy it (hatred), to flee from it (fear), to get obsessed or worried over it (anxiety), and so on. In Stoic theories, normal emotions (like delight and fear) are described as irrational impulses that come from incorrect appraisals of what
7000-430: Is a limit of the world". Metaphysical subjectivism is the theory that reality is what we perceive to be real, and that there is no underlying true reality that exists independently of perception. One can also hold that it is consciousness rather than perception that is reality ( subjective idealism ). In probability , a subjectivism stands for the belief that probabilities are simply degrees-of-belief by rational agents in
7175-485: Is a long belief that psychological hardship, including loneliness, can be a source of creativity. In spiritual traditions, perhaps the most obvious benefit of loneliness is that it can increase the desire for a union with the divine. More esoterically, the psychic wound opened up by loneliness or other conditions has been said, e.g. by Simone Weil , to open up space for God to manifest within the soul. In Christianity, spiritual dryness has been seen as advantageous as part of
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7350-476: Is a philosophical tenet that accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law. In extreme forms such as solipsism, it may hold that the nature and existence of every object depends solely on someone's subjective awareness of it. In the proposition 5.632 of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus , Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote: "The subject doesn't belong to the world, but it
7525-488: Is a process of transformation, whereby the personal and collective unconscious is brought into consciousness (by means of dreams, active imagination or free association to take examples) to be assimilated into the whole personality. It is a completely natural process necessary for the integration of the psyche to take place. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development. In L'individuation psychique et collective , Gilbert Simondon developed
7700-474: Is a spectrum of behaviors at the societal level ranging from highly individualistic societies through mixed societies to collectivist. According to an Oxford Dictionary , "competitive individualism" in sociology is "the view that achievement and non-achievement should depend on merit. Effort and ability are regarded as prerequisites of success. Competition is seen as an acceptable means of distributing limited resources and rewards. Methodological individualism
7875-430: Is a system of philosophy created by philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand which holds that reality exists independent of consciousness; human beings gain knowledge rationally from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive and deductive logic; the moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest. Rand thinks the only social system consistent with this morality
8050-581: Is a tendency towards self-creation and experimentation as opposed to tradition or popular mass opinions and behaviors. It is also associated with humanist philosophical positions and ethics. In the English language , the word individualism was first introduced as a pejorative by utopian socialists such as the Owenites in the late 1830s, although it is unclear if they were influenced by Saint-Simonianism or came up with it independently. A more positive use of
8225-404: Is all these; but it is more. It is the realization by the individual that they are an individual; that, as far as they are concerned, they are the only individual." Stirner and Nietzsche , who exerted influence on anarchism despite its opposition, were frequently compared by French "literary anarchists" and anarchist interpretations of Nietzschean ideas appear to have also been influential in
8400-469: Is also correlated with an increased risk of death and suicidal thoughts . Medical treatments for loneliness include beginning therapy and taking antidepressants . Social treatments for loneliness generally include an increase in interaction with others, such as group activities (such as exercise or religious activities ), re-engaging with old friends or colleagues, owning pets, and becoming more connected with one's community. Loneliness has long been
8575-431: Is also present. This impacts the ability of individuals to know themselves, to value themselves and to relate to others or to do so with great difficulty. All these factors and many others are often overlooked by the standard medical or psychological advice that recommends to go meet friends, family and to socialise. This is not always possible when there is no one available to relate to and an inability to connect without
8750-556: Is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity". Emotions are complex, involving multiple different components, such as subjective experience, cognitive processes , expressive behavior, psychophysiological changes, and instrumental behavior. At one time, academics attempted to identify the emotion with one of the components: William James with a subjective experience, behaviorists with instrumental behavior, psychophysiologists with physiological changes, and so on. More recently, emotion has been said to consist of all
8925-489: Is chosen is efficacious in satisfying the self-interest of the agent. Nor does ethical egoism necessarily entail that in pursuing self-interest one ought always to do what one wants to do, e.g. in the long term the fulfilment of short-term desires may prove detrimental to the self. Fleeting pleasance then takes a back seat to protracted eudaemonia . In the words of James Rachels , "[e]thical egoism [...] endorses selfishness, but it doesn't endorse foolishness." Ethical egoism
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#17328758273799100-448: Is far from always the case. Social loneliness is the loneliness people experience because of the lack of a wider social network . They may not feel they are members of a community, or that they have friends or allies whom they can rely on in times of distress. Emotional loneliness results from the lack of deep, nurturing relationships with other people. Weiss tied his concept of emotional loneliness to attachment theory . People have
9275-457: Is felt by everyone. From this perspective, some degree of loneliness is inevitable as the limitations of human life mean it is impossible for anyone to continually satisfy their inherent need for connection. Professors including Michele A. Carter and Ben Lazare Mijuskovic have written books and essays tracking the existential perspective and the many writers who have talked about it throughout history. Thomas Wolfe 's 1930s essay God's Lonely Man
9450-479: Is found on both the right and left in modern politics. For scholar Ellen Meiksins Wood , "there are doctrines of individualism that are opposed to Lockean individualism [...] and non-Lockean individualism may encompass socialism ". British historians such as Emily Robinson, Camilla Schofield, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Natalie Thomlinson have argued that Britons were keen about defining and claiming their individual rights, identities and perspectives by
9625-472: Is found throughout society, including among people in marriages along with other strong relationships, and those with successful careers. Most people experience loneliness at some points in their lives, and some feel it often. Loneliness is found to be the highest among younger people as, according to the BBC Loneliness Experiment, 40% people within the age group 16-24 admit to feeling lonely while
9800-470: Is frequently discussed in this regard; Wolfe makes the case that everyone imagines they are lonely in a special way unique to themselves, whereas really every single person sometimes experiences loneliness. While agreeing that loneliness alleviation can be a good thing, those who take the existential view tend to doubt such efforts can ever be fully successful, seeing some level of loneliness as both unavoidable and even beneficial, as it can help people appreciate
9975-414: Is full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure laissez-faire capitalism ; and the role of art in human life is to transform man's widest metaphysical ideas, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form – a work of art – that he can comprehend and to which he can respond emotionally. Objectivism celebrates man as his own hero, "with his own happiness as
10150-416: Is generally disposed to feel irritation more easily or quickly than others do. Finally, some theorists place emotions within a more general category of "affective states" where affective states can also include emotion-related phenomena such as pleasure and pain , motivational states (for example, hunger or curiosity ), moods, dispositions and traits. For more than 40 years, Paul Ekman has supported
10325-572: Is influenced mainly by the thought of William Godwin . Autarchism promotes the principles of individualism, the moral ideology of individual liberty and self-reliance whilst rejecting compulsory government and supporting the elimination of government in favor of ruling oneself to the exclusion of rule by others. Robert LeFevre , recognized as an autarchist by anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard , distinguished autarchism from anarchy , whose economics he felt entailed interventions contrary to freedom in contrast to his own laissez-faire economics of
10500-439: Is known as "core-SELF" to be generating these affects. Psychologists have used methods such as factor analysis to attempt to map emotion-related responses onto a more limited number of dimensions. Such methods attempt to boil emotions down to underlying dimensions that capture the similarities and differences between experiences. Often, the first two dimensions uncovered by factor analysis are valence (how negative or positive
10675-441: Is no one around, that person is not lonely because there is no desire for social interaction. There have also been suggestions that each person has their own optimal level of social interaction. If a person gets too little or too much social interaction, this could lead to feelings of loneliness or over-stimulation . Solitude can have positive effects on individuals. One study found that, although time spent alone tended to depress
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#173287582737910850-417: Is no single, universally accepted evolutionary theory. The most prominent ideas suggest that emotions have evolved to serve various adaptive functions: A distinction can be made between emotional episodes and emotional dispositions. Emotional dispositions are also comparable to character traits, where someone may be said to be generally disposed to experience certain emotions. For example, an irritable person
11025-463: Is not as clear as it seems. Paul D. MacLean claims that emotion competes with even more instinctive responses, on one hand, and the more abstract reasoning, on the other hand. The increased potential in neuroimaging has also allowed investigation into evolutionarily ancient parts of the brain. Important neurological advances were derived from these perspectives in the 1990s by Joseph E. LeDoux and Antonio Damasio . For example, in an extensive study of
11200-460: Is not evenly distributed across a nation's population. It tends to be concentrated among vulnerable sub groups; for example the poor, the unemployed, immigrants and mothers. Some of the most severe loneliness tends to be found among international students from countries in Asia with a collective culture, when they come to study in countries with a more individualist culture, such as Australia. In New Zealand,
11375-549: Is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour sanctified by the larger society. Libertines place value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses. As a philosophy, libertinism gained new-found adherents in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, particularly in France and Great Britain . Notable among these were John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester and
11550-767: Is sometimes compared to short-term hunger , which is unpleasant but ultimately useful as it motivates us to eat. Long-term loneliness is widely considered a close to entirely harmful condition. Whereas transient loneliness typically motivates us to improve relationships with others, chronic loneliness can have the opposite effect. This is as long-term social isolation can cause hypervigilance . While enhanced vigilance may have been evolutionary adaptive for individuals who went long periods without others watching their backs, it can lead to excessive cynicism and suspicion of other people, which in turn can be detrimental to interpersonal relationships. So without intervention, chronic loneliness can be self-reinforcing. Much has been written about
11725-541: Is sometimes the philosophical basis for support of libertarianism or individualist anarchism as in Max Stirner , although these can also be based on altruistic motivations. These are political positions based partly on a belief that individuals should not coercively prevent others from exercising freedom of action. Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a number of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who generally held, despite profound doctrinal differences, that
11900-473: Is still found to be a severe problem for the very old). There have been contradictory results concerning how the prevalence of loneliness varies with gender. A 2020 analysis based on a worldwide dataset gathered by the BBC found greater loneliness among men, though some earlier work had found the opposite, or that gender made no difference. While cross-cultural comparisons are difficult to interpret with high confidence,
12075-456: Is strongly correlated with GDP per capita and venture capital investments. The cultures of economically developed regions such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, North America and Western Europe are the most individualistic in the world. Middle income regions such as Eastern Europe, South America and mainland East Asia have cultures which are neither very individualistic nor very collectivistic. The most collectivistic cultures in
12250-411: Is the only intrinsic good and pain is the only intrinsic bad. The basic idea behind hedonistic thought is that pleasure (an umbrella term for all inherently likable emotions) is the only thing that is good in and of itself or by its very nature. This implies evaluating the moral worth of character or behavior according to the extent that the pleasure it produces exceeds the pain it entails. A libertine
12425-483: Is the single most effective way of intervening to reduce loneliness, though it does not always work for everyone. Loneliness can spread through social groups like a disease. The mechanism for this involves the maladaptive cognition that often results from chronic loneliness. If a man loses a friend for whatever reason, this may increase his loneliness, resulting in him developing maladaptive cognition such as excessive neediness or suspicion of other friends. Hence leading to
12600-450: Is the view that phenomena can only be understood by examining how they result from the motivations and actions of individual agents. In economics, people's behavior is explained in terms of rational choices , as constrained by prices and incomes. The economist accepts individuals' preferences as givens. Becker and Stigler provide a forceful statement of this view: On the traditional view, an explanation of economic phenomena that reaches
12775-439: Is to seek the society most favorable to the artist. [...] for Wilde art is the supreme end, containing within itself enlightenment and regeneration, to which all else in society must be subordinated. [...] Wilde represents the anarchist as aesthete ". Woodcock finds that "[t]he most ambitious contribution to literary anarchism during the 1890s was undoubtedly Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism " and finds that it
12950-448: Is toleration of different beliefs and of different ideas as to what constitutes a good life. Liberalism generally values differing political opinions, even if they clash and cause discord. Egoist anarchism is a school of anarchist thought that originated in the philosophy of Max Stirner , a 19th-century Hegelian philosopher whose "name appears with familiar regularity in historically orientated surveys of anarchist thought as one of
13125-467: The "dark night of the soul" , an ordeal that while painful, can result in spiritual transformation. From a secular perspective, while the vast majority of empirical studies focus on the negative effects of long term loneliness, a few studies have found there can also be benefits, such as enhanced perceptiveness of social situations. Studies have found mostly negative effects from chronic loneliness on brain functioning and structure. However, certain parts of
13300-580: The Age of Enlightenment and rejects many foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings , hereditary status, and established religion . John Locke and Montesquieu are often credited with the philosophical foundations of classical liberalism , a political ideology inspired by the broader liberal movement. Locke wrote that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions." In
13475-463: The Austrian School . Liberalism is thought "that attaches [and advances the] importance...[of]...the civil and political rights of individuals and their freedoms of speech and expression ." This belief is widely accepted in the United States, Europe, Australia and other Western nations, and was recognized as an important value by many Western philosophers throughout history, in particular since
13650-584: The COVID-19 pandemic . In May 2023, Murthy published a United States Department of Health and Human Services advisory on the impact of the epidemic of loneliness and isolation in the United States. The report likened the dangers of loneliness to other public health threats such as smoking and obesity . In November 2023, the World Health Organization declared loneliness a "global public health concern" and launched an international commission to study
13825-475: The James–Lange theory . As James wrote, "the perception of bodily changes, as they occur, is the emotion". James further claims that "we feel sad because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and either we cry, strike, or tremble because we are sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be". An example of this theory in action would be as follows: An emotion-evoking stimulus (snake) triggers
14000-607: The Marquis de Sade . During the Baroque era in France, there existed a freethinking circle of philosophers and intellectuals who were collectively known as libertinage érudit and which included Gabriel Naudé , Élie Diodati and François de La Mothe Le Vayer . The critic Vivian de Sola Pinto linked John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester 's libertinism to Hobbesian materialism . Objectivism
14175-418: The diencephalon (particularly the thalamus ), before being subjected to any further processing. Therefore, Cannon also argued that it was not anatomically possible for sensory events to trigger a physiological response prior to triggering conscious awareness and emotional stimuli had to trigger both physiological and experiential aspects of emotion simultaneously. Stanley Schachter formulated his theory on
14350-411: The human condition . Some philosophers , such as Sartre , believe in an epistemic loneliness in which loneliness is a fundamental part of the human condition because of the paradox between people's consciousness desiring meaning in life and the isolation and nothingness of the universe . Conversely, other existentialist thinkers argue that human beings might be said to actively engage each other and
14525-520: The time perspective. In this respect, loneliness can be viewed as either transient or chronic . Transient loneliness is temporary in nature; generally it is easily relieved. Chronic loneliness is more permanent and not easily relieved. For example, when a person is sick and cannot socialize with friends, this would be a case of transient loneliness. Once the person got better it would be easy for them to alleviate their loneliness. A person with long term feelings of loneliness, regardless of if they are at
14700-467: The " wheel of emotions ", suggesting eight primary emotions grouped on a positive or negative basis: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. Some basic emotions can be modified to form complex emotions. The complex emotions could arise from cultural conditioning or association combined with the basic emotions. Alternatively, similar to the way primary colors combine, primary emotions could blend to form
14875-627: The "modern way of life in industrialized countries" is greatly reducing the quality of social relationships, partly due to people no longer living in close proximity with their extended families. The review notes that from 1990 to 2010, the number of Americans reporting no close confidants has tripled. In 2017, Vivek Murthy , the Surgeon General of the United States , argued that there was a loneliness epidemic . It has since been described as an epidemic thousands of times, by reporters, academics and other public officials. Professors such as Claude S. Fischer and Eric Klinenberg opined in 2018 that while
15050-479: The 17th century on, individual indicates separateness, as in individualism. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individuated being; a person separated from everything with unique character by possessing their own needs, goals, and desires in comparison to other people. The principle of individuation, or principium individuationis , describes the manner in which a thing is identified as distinguished from other things. For Carl Jung , individuation
15225-503: The 17th century, liberal ideas began to influence European governments in nations such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, England and Poland, but they were strongly opposed, often by armed might, by those who favored absolute monarchy and established religion. In the 18th century, the first modern liberal state was founded without a monarch or a hereditary aristocracy in the United States of America. The US Declaration of Independence includes
15400-414: The 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes . 21st century Humanism tends to strongly endorse human rights , including reproductive rights , gender equality , social justice , and the separation of church and state . The term covers organized non-theistic religions , secular humanism , and a humanistic life stance. Philosophical hedonism is a meta-ethical theory of value which argues that pleasure
15575-413: The 1970s, demanding greater personal autonomy and self-determination and less outside control, angrily complaining that the establishment was withholding it. Historians argue that this shift in concerns helped cause Thatcherism and was incorporated into Thatcherism's appeal. Within anarchism, individualist anarchism represents several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize
15750-557: The 2020 analyses based on the BBC dataset found the more individualist countries like the UK tended to have higher levels of loneliness. However, previous empirical work had often found that people living in more collectivist cultures tended to report greater loneliness, possibly due to less freedom to choose the sort of relationships that suit them best. In the 21st century, loneliness has been widely reported as an increasing worldwide problem. A 2010 systematic review and meta analyses had stated that
15925-491: The COVID-19 pandemic and similar emergency situations." There is a clear distinction between feeling lonely and being socially isolated (for example, a loner ). In particular, one way of thinking about loneliness is as a discrepancy between one's necessary and achieved levels of social interaction , while solitude is simply the lack of contact with people. Loneliness is therefore a subjective yet multidimensional experience; if
16100-546: The Enlightenment . It is often rejected by collectivist ideas such as in Abrahamic or Confucian societies, although Taoists were and are known to be individualists. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote praising "the idea of a polity administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed". Liberalism has its roots in
16275-683: The United States. Ethical egoism, also called simply egoism, is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest . It differs from psychological egoism , which claims that people do only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism which holds merely that it is rational to act in one's self-interest. However, these doctrines may occasionally be combined with ethical egoism. Ethical egoism contrasts with ethical altruism , which holds that moral agents have an obligation to help and serve others. Egoism and altruism both contrast with ethical utilitarianism, which holds that
16450-657: The Western philosophers (including Aristotle , Plato , Descartes , Aquinas , and Hobbes ), leading them to propose extensive theories—often competing theories—that sought to explain emotion and the accompanying motivators of human action, as well as its consequences. In the Age of Enlightenment , Scottish thinker David Hume proposed a revolutionary argument that sought to explain the main motivators of human action and conduct. He proposed that actions are motivated by "fears, desires, and passions". As he wrote in his book A Treatise of Human Nature (1773): "Reason alone can never be
16625-462: The abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." — Oscar Wilde , The Soul of Man under Socialism , 1891 Individualists are chiefly concerned with protecting individual autonomy against obligations imposed by social institutions (such as
16800-419: The accompanying bodily sensations have always been part of the interests of thinkers and philosophers. Far more extensively, this has also been of great interest to both Western and Eastern societies. Emotional states have been associated with the divine and with the enlightenment of the human mind and body. The ever-changing actions of individuals and their mood variations have been of great importance to most of
16975-496: The ancient Greek ideal of dispassionate reason, the neuroscience of emotion shows that emotion is necessarily integrated with intellect. Research on social emotion also focuses on the physical displays of emotion including body language of animals and humans (see affect display ). For example, spite seems to work against the individual but it can establish an individual's reputation as someone to be feared. Shame and pride can motivate behaviors that help one maintain one's standing in
17150-415: The appraisal of situations and contexts. Cognitive processes, like reasoning and decision-making, are often regarded as separate from emotional processes, making a division between "thinking" and "feeling". However, not all theories of emotion regard this separation as valid. Nowadays, most research into emotions in the clinical and well-being context focuses on emotion dynamics in daily life, predominantly
17325-421: The basis of facts , scientific inquiry and logical principles, independent of any logical fallacies or intellectually limiting effects of authority, confirmation bias , cognitive bias , conventional wisdom , popular culture , prejudice , sectarianism , tradition , urban legend and all other dogmas . Regarding religion , freethinkers hold that there is insufficient evidence to scientifically validate
17500-685: The benefits of being alone, yet often, even when authors use the word "loneliness", they are referring to what could be more precisely described as voluntary solitude. Yet some assert that even long-term involuntary loneliness can have beneficial effects. Chronic loneliness is often seen as a purely negative phenomena from the lens of social and medical science. Yet in spiritual and artistic traditions, it has been viewed as having mixed effects. Though even within these traditions, there can be warnings not to intentionally seek out chronic loneliness or other conditions – just advise that if one falls into them, there can be benefits. In western arts, there
17675-462: The brain and other parts of the physical body. The Lexico definition of emotion is "A strong feeling deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others". Emotions are responses to significant internal and external events. Emotions can be occurrences (e.g., panic ) or dispositions (e.g., hostility), and short-lived (e.g., anger) or long-lived (e.g., grief). Psychotherapist Michael C. Graham describes all emotions as existing on
17850-588: The brain and specific functions, like the ability to detect social threat, appear to be strengthened. A 2020 population-genetics study looked for signatures of loneliness in grey matter morphology, intrinsic functional coupling, and fiber tract microstructure. The loneliness-linked neurobiological profiles converged on a collection of brain regions known as the default mode network . This higher associative network shows more consistent loneliness associations in grey matter volume than other cortical brain networks. Lonely individuals display stronger functional communication in
18025-443: The categorization of "emotion" and classification of basic emotions such as "anger" and "sadness" are not universal and that the boundaries and domains of these concepts are categorized differently by all cultures. However, others argue that there are some universal bases of emotions (see Section 6.1). In psychiatry and psychology, an inability to express or perceive emotion is sometimes referred to as alexithymia . Human nature and
18200-464: The components of the James-Lange theory of emotions. The James–Lange theory has remained influential. Its main contribution is the emphasis it places on the embodiment of emotions, especially the argument that changes in the bodily concomitants of emotions can alter their experienced intensity. Most contemporary neuroscientists would endorse a modified James–Lange view in which bodily feedback modulates
18375-581: The components. The different components of emotion are categorized somewhat differently depending on the academic discipline. In psychology and philosophy , emotion typically includes a subjective , conscious experience characterized primarily by psychophysiological expressions , biological reactions , and mental states . A similar multi-componential description of emotion is found in sociology . For example, Peggy Thoits described emotions as involving physiological components, cultural or emotional labels (anger, surprise, etc.), expressive body actions, and
18550-508: The data doesn't support describing loneliness as an "epidemic" or even as a clearly growing problem, loneliness is indeed a serious issue, having a severe health impact on millions of people. However, a 2021 study found that adolescent loneliness in contemporary schools and depression increased substantially and consistently worldwide after 2012. A comparative overview of the prevalence and determinants of loneliness and social isolation in Europe in
18725-436: The default network, and greater microstructural integrity of its fornix pathway . The findings fit with the possibility that the up-regulation of these neural circuits supports mentalizing, reminiscence and imagination to fill the social void. Emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts , feelings , behavioral responses , and
18900-409: The disruption to one's social circle , sometimes combined with homesickness , which results from people moving away for work or education. All sorts of situations and events can cause loneliness, especially in combination with certain personality traits for susceptible individuals. For example, an extroverted person who is highly social is more likely to feel lonely if they are living somewhere with
19075-443: The distinct facial expressions. Ekman's facial-expression research examined six basic emotions: anger , disgust , fear , happiness , sadness and surprise . Later in his career, Ekman theorized that other universal emotions may exist beyond these six. In light of this, recent cross-cultural studies led by Daniel Cordaro and Dacher Keltner , both former students of Ekman, extended the list of universal emotions. In addition to
19250-408: The earlier work of a Spanish physician, Gregorio Marañón , who injected patients with epinephrine and subsequently asked them how they felt. Marañón found that most of these patients felt something but in the absence of an actual emotion-evoking stimulus, the patients were unable to interpret their physiological arousal as an experienced emotion. Schachter did agree that physiological reactions played
19425-420: The earliest and best-known exponents of individualist anarchism ." According to Stirner, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire, without regard for God, state, or morality. Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw unions of egoists , non-systematic associations continually renewed by all parties' support through an act of will which Stirner proposed as
19600-1015: The economics of Warren and Proudhon in his eclectic influential publication Liberty . From these early influences, anarchism and especially individualist anarchism was related to the issues of love and sex . In different countries, this attracted a small but diverse following of bohemian artists and intellectuals, free love and birth control advocates, individualist naturists nudists as in anarcho-naturism , freethought and anti-clerical activists as well as young anarchist outlaws in what came to be known as illegalism and individual reclamation , especially within European individualist anarchism and individualist anarchism in France . These authors and activists included Oscar Wilde , Émile Armand , Han Ryner , Henri Zisly , Renzo Novatore , Miguel Giménez Igualada , Adolf Brand and Lev Chernyi among others. In his important essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism from 1891, Wilde defended socialism as
19775-407: The effect of age, gender and culture on loneliness. Much 20th century and early 21st century writing on loneliness assumed it typically increases with age. In high-income countries, on average, one in four people over 60 and one in three over 75 feels lonely. Yet as of 2020, with some exceptions, recent studies have tended to find that it is young people who report the most loneliness (though loneliness
19950-590: The elimination of the state, philosophical anarchists do not believe that they have an obligation or duty to obey the state, or conversely that the state has a right to command. Philosophical anarchism is a component especially of individualist anarchism. Philosophical anarchists of historical note include Mohandas Gandhi , William Godwin , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , Max Stirner , Benjamin Tucker and Henry David Thoreau . Contemporary philosophical anarchists include A. John Simmons and Robert Paul Wolff . Subjectivism
20125-525: The emphasis on the individual, but differ in varying degrees on how one achieves and what constitutes a fulfilling life, what obstacles must be overcome, and what external and internal factors are involved, including the potential consequences of the existence or non-existence of God. Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophy in both style and content as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience. Existentialism became fashionable after World War II as
20300-435: The existence of supernatural phenomena. Humanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority. Since the 19th century, humanism has been associated with an anti-clericalism inherited from
20475-862: The experience feels) and arousal (how energized or enervated the experience feels). These two dimensions can be depicted on a 2D coordinate map. This two-dimensional map has been theorized to capture one important component of emotion called core affect . Core affect is not theorized to be the only component to emotion, but to give the emotion its hedonic and felt energy. Using statistical methods to analyze emotional states elicited by short videos, Cowen and Keltner identified 27 varieties of emotional experience: admiration, adoration, aesthetic appreciation, amusement, anger, anxiety, awe, awkwardness, boredom, calmness, confusion, craving, disgust, empathic pain, entrancement, excitement, fear, horror, interest, joy, nostalgia, relief, romance, sadness, satisfaction, sexual desire, and surprise. In Hinduism, Bharata Muni enunciated
20650-434: The experience of emotion. (p. 583) Walter Bradford Cannon agreed that physiological responses played a crucial role in emotions, but did not believe that physiological responses alone could explain subjective emotional experiences. He argued that physiological responses were too slow and often imperceptible and this could not account for the relatively rapid and intense subjective awareness of emotion. He also believed that
20825-526: The first Genome-wide association study of loneliness found that the heredity of loneliness is much lower, at about 14–27%. This suggests that while genes play a role in determining how much loneliness a person may feel, they are less of a factor than individual experiences and the environment. People making long driving commutes have reported dramatically higher feelings of loneliness (as well as other negative health impacts). Two principal types of loneliness are social and emotional loneliness. This delineation
21000-436: The first expression of anarchism. Godwin, a philosophical anarchist, from a rationalist and utilitarian basis opposed revolutionary action and saw a minimal state as a present "necessary evil" that would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge. Godwin advocated individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labour be eliminated on the premise that this would be most conducive with
21175-610: The focus of philosophical thought should be to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual person and their emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts. The early 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard , posthumously regarded as the father of existentialism, maintained that the individual solely has the responsibilities of giving one's own life meaning and living that life passionately and sincerely , in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions including despair , angst , absurdity , alienation and boredom . Subsequent existential philosophers retain
21350-436: The following: Śṛṅgāraḥ (शृङ्गारः): Romance / Love / attractiveness, Hāsyam (हास्यं): Laughter / mirth / comedy, Raudram (रौद्रं): Fury / Anger, Kāruṇyam (कारुण्यं): Compassion / mercy, Bībhatsam (बीभत्सं): Disgust / aversion, Bhayānakam (भयानकं): Horror / terror, Veeram (वीरं): Pride / Heroism, Adbhutam (अद्भुतं): Surprise / wonder. In Buddhism , emotions occur when an object is considered attractive or repulsive. There
21525-404: The form of judgments, evaluations, or thoughts were entirely necessary for an emotion to occur. Cognitive theories of emotion emphasize that emotions are shaped by how individuals interpret and appraise situations. These theories highlight: These theories acknowledge that emotions are not automatic reactions but result from the interplay of cognitive interpretations, physiological responses, and
21700-451: The fourteen surveyed groups with the highest prevalence of loneliness most/all of the time in descending order are: disabled people, recent migrants, low income households, unemployed, single parents, rural (rest of South Island), seniors aged 75+, not in the labour force, youth aged 15–24, no qualifications, not housing owner-occupier, not in a family nucleus, Māori, and low personal income. Studies have found inconsistent results concerning
21875-473: The full spectrum of human emotional experience. For example, interpersonal anger and disgust could blend to form contempt . Relationships exist between basic emotions, resulting in positive or negative influences. Jaak Panksepp carved out seven biologically inherited primary affective systems called SEEKING (expectancy), FEAR (anxiety), RAGE (anger), LUST (sexual excitement), CARE (nurturance), PANIC/GRIEF (sadness), and PLAY (social joy). He proposed what
22050-580: The general good. An influential form of individualist anarchism called egoism , or egoist anarchism, was expounded by one of the earliest and best-known proponents of individualist anarchism, the German Max Stirner . Stirner's The Ego and Its Own , published in 1844, is a founding text of the philosophy. According to Stirner, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire, without regard for God, state, or morality. To Stirner, rights were spooks in
22225-485: The inclusion of cognitive appraisal as one of the elements is slightly controversial, since some theorists make the assumption that emotion and cognition are separate but interacting systems, the CPM provides a sequence of events that effectively describes the coordination involved during an emotional episode. Emotion can be differentiated from a number of similar constructs within the field of affective neuroscience : There
22400-405: The individual and their will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but refers to a group of individualistic philosophies that sometimes are in conflict. In 1793, William Godwin , who has often been cited as the first anarchist, wrote Political Justice , which some consider to be
22575-770: The individual, as the lack of respect for the law necessarily entails, in Rousseau's eyes, a form of ignorance and submission to one's passions instead of the preferred autonomy of reason ). Individualism versus collectivism is a common dichotomy in cross-cultural research . Global comparative studies have found that the world's cultures vary in the degree to which they emphasize individual autonomy, freedom and initiative (individualistic traits), respectively conformity to group norms, maintaining traditions and obedience to in-group authority (collectivistic traits). Cultural differences between individualism and collectivism are differences in degrees, not in kind. Cultural individualism
22750-449: The influence of emotions on health and behaviors, suggesting the need to manage emotions. Early modern views on emotion are developed in the works of philosophers such as René Descartes , Niccolò Machiavelli , Baruch Spinoza , Thomas Hobbes and David Hume . In the 19th century emotions were considered adaptive and were studied more frequently from an empiricist psychiatric perspective. Christian perspective on emotion presupposes
22925-478: The intensity of specific emotions and their variability, instability, inertia, and differentiation, as well as whether and how emotions augment or blunt each other over time and differences in these dynamics between people and along the lifespan. The word "emotion" dates back to 1579, when it was adapted from the French word émouvoir , which means "to stir up". The term emotion was introduced into academic discussion as
23100-540: The internet. Excessive internet use can directly cause anxiety and depression, conditions which can contribute to loneliness – yet these factors may be offset by the internet's ability to facilitate interaction, and to empower people. Some studies found that internet use is a cause of loneliness, at least for some types of people. Others have found internet use can have a significant positive effect on reducing loneliness. The authors of meta studies and reviews from about 2015 and later have tended to argue that there
23275-411: The joy of living. Culture is discussed as a cause of loneliness in two senses. Migrants can experience loneliness due to missing their home culture. Studies have found this effect can be especially strong for students from countries in Asia with a collective culture, when they go to study at universities in more individualist English speaking countries. Culture is also seen as a cause of loneliness in
23450-417: The main proponents of this view was Richard Lazarus who argued that emotions must have some cognitive intentionality . The cognitive activity involved in the interpretation of an emotional context may be conscious or unconscious and may or may not take the form of conceptual processing. Lazarus' theory is very influential; emotion is a disturbance that occurs in the following order: For example: Jenny sees
23625-654: The mid-late 19th century with Charles Darwin 's 1872 book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals . Darwin argued that emotions served no evolved purpose for humans, neither in communication, nor in aiding survival. Darwin largely argued that emotions evolved via the inheritance of acquired characters. He pioneered various methods for studying non-verbal expressions, from which he concluded that some expressions had cross-cultural universality. Darwin also detailed homologous expressions of emotions that occur in animals . This led
23800-504: The mind, and he held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality". Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw unions of egoists , non-systematic associations continually renewed by all parties' support through an act of will, which Stirner proposed as a form of organization in place of the state. Egoist anarchists claim that egoism will foster genuine and spontaneous union between individuals. Egoist anarchism has inspired many interpretations of Stirner's philosophy. It
23975-491: The moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." Philosophical anarchism is an anarchist school of thought which contends that the state lacks moral legitimacy . In contrast to revolutionary anarchism, philosophical anarchism does not advocate violent revolution to eliminate it but advocates peaceful evolution to superate it. Although philosophical anarchism does not necessarily imply any action or desire for
24150-453: The nine rasas (emotions) in the Nātyasāstra , an ancient Sanskrit text of dramatic theory and other performance arts, written between 200 BC and 200 AD. The theory of rasas still forms the aesthetic underpinning of all Indian classical dance and theatre, such as Bharatanatyam , kathak , Kuchipudi , Odissi , Manipuri , Kudiyattam , Kathakali and others. Bharata Muni established
24325-472: The origin, function , and other aspects of emotions have fostered intense research on this topic. Theorizing about the evolutionary origin and possible purpose of emotion dates back to Charles Darwin . Current areas of research include the neuroscience of emotion, using tools like PET and fMRI scans to study the affective picture processes in the brain . From a mechanistic perspective, emotions can be defined as "a positive or negative experience that
24500-445: The original six, these studies provided evidence for amusement , awe , contentment , desire , embarrassment , pain , relief , and sympathy in both facial and vocal expressions. They also found evidence for boredom , confusion , interest , pride , and shame facial expressions, as well as contempt , relief, and triumph vocal expressions. Robert Plutchik agreed with Ekman's biologically driven perspective but developed
24675-403: The others' interests and well-being. Egoism, utilitarianism, and altruism are all forms of consequentialism , but egoism and altruism contrast with utilitarianism, in that egoism and altruism are both agent-focused forms of consequentialism (i.e. subject-focused or subjective ), but utilitarianism is called agent-neutral (i.e. objective and impartial ) as it does not treat the subject's (i.e.
24850-604: The percentage of people who feel lonely above age 75 is around 27%. The effects of loneliness are also varied. Transient loneliness (loneliness that exists for a short period of time) is related to positive effects, including an increased focus on the strength of one's relationships. Chronic loneliness (loneliness that exists for a significant amount of time in one's life) is generally correlated with negative effects, including increased obesity , substance use disorder , risk of depression , cardiovascular disease , risk of high blood pressure , and high cholesterol . Chronic loneliness
25025-447: The perception of what he called an "exciting fact" directly led to a physiological response, known as "emotion". To account for different types of emotional experiences, James proposed that stimuli trigger activity in the autonomic nervous system , which in turn produces an emotional experience in the brain. The Danish psychologist Carl Lange also proposed a similar theory at around the same time, and therefore this theory became known as
25200-532: The person, or that which is "imago-dei" or Image of God in humans. In Christian thought, emotions have the potential to be controlled through reasoned reflection. That reasoned reflection also mimics God who made mind. The purpose of emotions in human life is therefore summarized in God's call to enjoy Him and creation, humans are to enjoy emotions and benefit from them and use them to energize behavior. Perspectives on emotions from evolutionary theory were initiated during
25375-573: The pre-COVID period was conducted by Joint Research Centre of the European Commission within the project Loneliness in Europe. The empirical results indicate that 8.6% of the adult population in Europe experience frequent loneliness and 20.8% experience social isolation, with eastern Europe recording the highest prevalence of both phenomena. In Australia, the annual national Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey has reported
25550-469: The prevalence of loneliness. Yet it remains challenging for scientists to make accurate generalisations and comparisons. Reasons for this include various loneliness measurement scales being used by different studies, differences in how even the same scale is implemented from study to study, and as cultural variations across time and space may impact how people report the largely subjective phenomena of loneliness. One consistent finding has been that loneliness
25725-486: The problem. While unpleasant, temporary feelings of loneliness are sometimes experienced by almost everyone, they are not thought to cause long term harm. Early 20th century work sometimes treated loneliness as a wholly negative phenomenon. Yet transient loneliness is now generally considered beneficial. The capacity to feel it may have been evolutionarily selected for, a healthy aversive emotion that motivates individuals to strengthen social connections. Transient loneliness
25900-429: The result of a cognitive and conscious process which occurs in response to a body system response to a trigger. According to Scherer 's Component Process Model (CPM) of emotion, there are five crucial elements of emotion. From the component process perspective, emotional experience requires that all of these processes become coordinated and synchronized for a short period of time, driven by appraisal processes. Although
26075-513: The richness, variety, and temporal course of emotional experiences could not stem from physiological reactions, that reflected fairly undifferentiated fight or flight responses. An example of this theory in action is as follows: An emotion-evoking event (snake) triggers simultaneously both a physiological response and a conscious experience of an emotion. Phillip Bard contributed to the theory with his work on animals. Bard found that sensory, motor, and physiological information all had to pass through
26250-407: The same positive conclusions in his 1847 work Elements of Individualism . An individual is a person or any specific object in a collection. In the 15th century and earlier, and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics , individual means "indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning "a person" as in "the problem of proper names ". From
26425-500: The self's, i.e. the moral "agent's") own interests as being more or less important than if the same interests, desires, or well-being were anyone else's. Ethical egoism does not require moral agents to harm the interests and well-being of others when making moral deliberation, e.g. what is in an agent's self-interest may be incidentally detrimental, beneficial, or neutral in its effect on others. Individualism allows for others' interest and well-being to be disregarded or not as long as what
26600-572: The sense that western culture may have been contributing to loneliness, ever since the Enlightenment began to favour individualism over older communal values. For many people the family of origin did not offer the trust building relationships needed to build a reference that lasts a lifetime and even in memory after the passing of a loved one. This can be due to parenting style, traditions, mental health issues including personality disorders and abusive family environments. Sometimes religious shunning
26775-463: The situation (a confederate) displayed that emotion. Hence, the combination of the appraisal of the situation (cognitive) and the participants' reception of adrenalin or a placebo together determined the response. This experiment has been criticized in Jesse Prinz's (2004) Gut Reactions . With the two-factor theory now incorporating cognition, several theories began to argue that cognitive activity in
26950-450: The skills and knowledge on how to proceed. With time a person might become discouraged or develop apathy from numerous trials, failures or rejections brought on by the lack of interpersonal skills. As the rate of loneliness increases yearly among people of every age group and more so in the elderly, with known detrimental physical and psychological effects, there is a need to find new ways to connect people with each other and especially so at
27125-503: The social context. A prominent philosophical exponent is Robert C. Solomon (for example, The Passions, Emotions and the Meaning of Life , 1993 ). Solomon claims that emotions are judgments. He has put forward a more nuanced view which responds to what he has called the 'standard objection' to cognitivism, the idea that a judgment that something is fearsome can occur with or without emotion, so judgment cannot be identified with emotion. One of
27300-470: The state or religious morality). For L. Susan Brown , "Liberalism and anarchism are two political philosophies that are fundamentally concerned with individual freedom yet differ from one another in very distinct ways. Anarchism shares with liberalism a radical commitment to individual freedom while rejecting liberalism's competitive property relations." Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes
27475-476: The supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state , a corporation and social norms imposed through peer pressure , among others). Civil libertarianism is not a complete ideology ; rather, it is a collection of views on the specific issues of civil liberties and civil rights . Because of this, a civil libertarian outlook is compatible with many other political philosophies, and civil libertarianism
27650-700: The term in Britain came to be used with the writings of James Elishama Smith , a millenarian -turned-socialist and Christian Israelite . Although an early follower of Robert Owen , he eventually rejected Owen's collective idea of property and found in individualism a " universalism " that allowed for the development of the "original genius". Without individualism, Smith argued that individuals cannot amass property to increase one's happiness. William Maccall , another Unitarian preacher and probably an acquaintance of Smith, came somewhat later, although influenced by John Stuart Mill , Thomas Carlyle and German Romanticism , to
27825-462: The universe as they communicate and create, and loneliness is merely the feeling of being cut off from this process. In his 2019 text, Evidence of Being: The Black Gay Cultural Renaissance and the Politics of Violence, Darius Bost draws from Heather Love's theorization of loneliness to delineate the ways in which loneliness structures black gay feeling and literary, cultural productions. Bost limns, "As
28000-521: The view that emotions are discrete, measurable, and physiologically distinct. Ekman's most influential work revolved around the finding that certain emotions appeared to be universally recognized, even in cultures that were preliterate and could not have learned associations for facial expressions through media. Another classic study found that when participants contorted their facial muscles into distinct facial expressions (for example, disgust), they reported subjective and physiological experiences that matched
28175-452: The way for animal research on emotions and the eventual determination of the neural underpinnings of emotion. More contemporary views along the evolutionary psychology spectrum posit that both basic emotions and social emotions evolved to motivate (social) behaviors that were adaptive in the ancestral environment. Emotion is an essential part of any human decision-making and planning, and the famous distinction made between reason and emotion
28350-468: The way to guarantee individualism and so he saw that "[w]ith the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all". For anarchist historian George Woodcock , "Wilde's aim in The Soul of Man Under Socialism
28525-487: The word, emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. On the other hand, emotion can be used to refer to states that are mild (as in annoyed or content) and to states that are not directed at anything (as in anxiety and depression). One line of research looks at the meaning of the word emotion in everyday language and finds that this usage is rather different from that in academic discourse. In practical terms, Joseph LeDoux has defined emotions as
28700-420: The words which echo Locke that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to insure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ." Liberalism comes in many forms. According to John N. Gray , the essence of liberalism
28875-492: The work of Gilbert Simondon on individuation and also upon similar ideas in Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud . For Stiegler, "the I , as a psychic individual, can only be thought in relationship to we , which is a collective individual. The I is constituted in adopting a collective tradition, which it inherits and in which a plurality of I ' s acknowledge each other's existence." Individualism holds that
29050-648: The world are from economically developing regions such as the Middle East and Northern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and South-East Asia, Central Asia and Central America. An earlier analysis by Ruth Benedict in her book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword states that societies and groups can differ in the extent to which they are based upon predominantly "self-regarding" (individualistic, and/or self-interested) behaviors, rather than "other-regarding" (group-oriented, and group, or society-minded) behaviors. Ruth Benedict made
29225-420: The world. Moral subjectivism is that species of moral relativism that relativizes moral value to the individual subject. Horst Matthai Quelle was a Spanish-language German anarchist philosopher influenced by Max Stirner . Quelle argued that since the individual gives form to the world, he is those objects, the others and the whole universe. One of his main views was a "theory of infinite worlds" which for him
29400-404: Was adopted and further developed by scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas in particular. In Chinese antiquity, excessive emotion was believed to cause damage to qi , which in turn, damages the vital organs. The four humors theory made popular by Hippocrates contributed to the study of emotion in the same way that it did for medicine . In the early 11th century, Avicenna theorized about
29575-434: Was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic , surveyor, historian, philosopher and leading transcendentalist , who is best known for his book Walden , a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience , an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. Later, Benjamin Tucker fused Stirner's egoism with
29750-407: Was developed by pre-socratic philosophers . Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. The term comes from Latin solus ("alone") and ipse ("self"). Solipsism as an epistemological position holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure. The external world and other minds cannot be known, and might not exist outside the mind. As
29925-473: Was made in 1973 by Robert S. Weiss, in his seminal work: Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation. Based on Weiss's view that "both types of loneliness have to be examined independently, because the satisfaction for the need of emotional loneliness cannot act as a counterbalance for social loneliness, and vice versa", people working to treat or better understand loneliness have tended to treat these two types of loneliness separately, though this
30100-399: Was no increase in mortality found with social loneliness). Family loneliness results when individuals feel they lack close ties with family members. A 2010 study of 1,009 students found that only family loneliness was associated with increased frequency of self-harm, not romantic or social loneliness. Romantic loneliness can be experienced by adolescents and adults who lack a close bond with
30275-416: Was re-discovered and promoted by German philosophical anarchist and LGBT activist John Henry Mackay . Josiah Warren is widely regarded as the first American anarchist and The Peaceful Revolutionist , the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, was the first anarchist periodical published. For American anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster, "[i]t is apparent [...] that Proudhonian Anarchism
30450-466: Was scared". The issue with the James–Lange theory is that of causation (bodily states causing emotions and being a priori ), not that of the bodily influences on emotional experience (which can be argued and is still quite prevalent today in biofeedback studies and embodiment theory). Although mostly abandoned in its original form, Tim Dalgleish argues that most contemporary neuroscientists have embraced
30625-488: Was to be found in the United States at least as early as 1848 and that it was not conscious of its affinity to the Individualist Anarchism of Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews . [...] William B. Greene presented this Proudhonian Mutualism in its purest and most systematic form". Henry David Thoreau was an important early influence in individualist anarchist thought in the United States and Europe. Thoreau
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