*This post was copied from my original blog on Google Docs*
One of the subjects that was discussed today was paranoia. I’m usually not a paranoid kind of person, but I do remember that a few years ago, I was paranoid about getting run over by a car while crossing the street to get to my house. This was after I saw someone else get hit by car as I was crossing the same street. Instead of calmly walking across the street each day, I’d do a sort of jog-run across, and I felt pretty awkward doing so. Additionally, during our discussion, “catastrophic thinking” was brought up. This is thinking about the worst that could possibly happen in a situation. Fear of the unknown was also an important aspect mentioned. One of the greatest fears is death, because death really is unknown to everyone.
Referring back to people’s experiences of paranoia, we talked about the similarities and differences between two philosophers, Descartes and Hume. Descartes would try to rationalize fear by questioning it, quantifying, and breaking it down. He thought that the thinking mechanism is most important. On the other hand, Hume believed that we should acknowledge the fear. Emotion controls rational function. We’re actually slaves of passion more than we are of reason. The instinct to survive, he thought, is actually most important.
Paranoia is one of the strongest feelings, and how you see the world is reflected by your fears.
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