Can feelings be wrong?

[Joseph41]

Or are they inherently right?

Discuss.

[heids]

Hmm it depends how much you distinguish between thoughts and feelings. In CBT and other therapies it's assumed that thoughts lead to feelings, and thoughts can most DEFINITELY be wrong.

But I don't think it's "wrong" if you feel ashamed about something that isn't realistically shameful, or whatever.

[Joseph41]

Hmm it depends how much you distinguish between thoughts and feelings. In CBT and other therapies it's assumed that thoughts lead to feelings, and thoughts can most DEFINITELY be wrong.

But I don't think it's "wrong" if you feel ashamed about something that isn't realistically shameful, or whatever.

How can thoughts be wrong, though?

Controversial, perhaps - but wrong?

[Quantum44]

Or are they inherently right?

Discuss.

To the individual, emotions may seem like the only real truth in the world, but no-one else in the entire world can truly empathise and understand how you are feeling. So if you act on these emotions, the rest of the world may think you to be completely illogical. We like to analyse the actions of others based on logic and call them crazy or weird for acting without regard for common sense, without understanding the effect emotions have on decisions. They're so unique, it's difficult to say whether they are inherently right or wrong. If you follow stoic philosophy, you can't let emotions cloud your judgement, yet they are a part of the human condition and cannot be ignored. But to say they are completely right is also far too absolute. No doubt emotions are important, but you can't let passion be the master of your reason.

As with everything in life, emotions or feelings are not black and white. They are not the absolute truth, yet they contain the essence of your truth. In the end you just have to think rationally and emotionally.

[heids]

How can thoughts be wrong, though?

Controversial, perhaps - but wrong?

Some samples of common thoughts of mine:

"I deserve to die"
"I'm the fkn worst person on earth"
"Nobody could possibly love me"

I think these are fairly objectively untrue.  Beliefs of various other kinds can also be objectively untrue.

I do think it's important to acknowledge that thoughts and feelings are just that -thoughts and feelings. No matter how real thoughts feel, that doesn't make them necessarily right (or wrong).

[brenden]

Well... Let's just define some things.

A "feeling" isn't a thought - so while it might be conversationally acceptable to say "I feel that the Earth is flat", you're actually saying, "I think the Earth is flat". In that sense, a feeling can be wrong... but we wouldn't really be talking about feelings, and that wouldn't really be in the spirit of your question.

So if we're actually talking about feelings - desire, sadness... We can't be talking about facts in the sense of 'true' or 'false'. So we must be talking about some sort of morality... right? Would you agree? In which case... then I think feelings can be wrong.

If you feel hatred for minority groups, and feel violent and exited at the thought of bashing a member of that group whenever you see them, that feeling can be described as "wrong". Not factually, but racism can be imbued in feelings, and if you think racism is wrong, then you must think at least some type of feelings are wrong.

[_____]

Or are they inherently right?

Discuss.

Feelings can generally be split into:

Opinions - can be objectively wrong which is why they should be something you can change.
Emotions - hard to define as right or wrong. Basically they're like opinions but they depend more on your own circumstances and personality rather than surrounding events.

For example you may have an opinion that KFC is healthy and should be eaten three times a day. This can be objectively proven wrong. However, you may feel happy while eating KFC and your friend feels sick eating KFC. In this instances your feelings/emotions can't be wrong because there is no objective consensus on what one's emotion should be in regards to a specific event.

So they can be wrong but it depends how you define feelings.

[ShannonB28]

Feelings are not wrong. They can be negative but never wrong. It's not okay to say to someone that what they're feeling is wrong. As humans we have to feel what we need to feel to grow and develop as well as experience what it is to actually be human.
I could go on and on about this but my opinion is just that simple. Feelings aren't wrong, they make us human and human is not 'wrong'

[bellerina]

This is a very interesting question because it raises the issue over what determines our feelings to be right or wrong? There is no definitive answer because everyone is different and I don't think we can really place our emotions to what is "correct" or "incorrect" 

[Wales]

It's a bit of a confusing topic I'll be honest.

While I don't think our feelings can ever be "wrong" but I think they can be wrong. If we stick to Brenden's definition of feelings as sadness etc I do think we can be wrong. It all depends on your beliefs and those around you. I think feelings are a relative concept. Most people would view the desire to kill as wrong, the feeling of happiness when committing a grave sin.

I think it's too often we're told what to feel in certain situations, we automatically associate certain ideas and feelings with certain concepts. That itself creates room for it to be wrong. I think we have to ask ourselves if there is an absolute stance on a certain issue.

Life's complicated.