{"product_id":"2940016196473","title":"The Origin and Nature of the Emotions","description":"One of the most difficult things for a publisher to do is to estimate the value of a piece of work the spirit of which antagonizes his sense of scientific method. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe intrinsic purpose of Crile's efforts forms so laudable an impulse that the weight of criticism naturally falls on his side. The mechanistic theory of the emotions is of itself so attractive that almost any fault of logic or thinking would seem insignificant. It is furthermore rare to find a surgeon who is interested in anything beyond the conventional collecting of clinical data or the consideration of the technical aspects of operative maneuvers. The publisher's sympathies, therefore, are aroused in favor of this author and in support of the central idea of his book; yet in these essays of Crile's there appear to be so many evidences of inexactness of observation, so many faults of logical inference, that, in spite of a natural impulse to praise the effort, the publisher cannot help but point out how far Crile appears to him to fail in working out his thesis. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eApart from the idea of the phylogenetic aspect of fear and defense, which is at least an interesting conception, Crile relies for his evidence on certain appearances of the nerve cell to prove the material fact of his conception; that is, he takes a purely psychological phenomenon and finds certain histological variations in the assumed material origin of these emotions and then courageously draws the parallel between them and seeks to unite them in a chain of cause and effect. It is obvious that two things are necessary at least for this kind of reasoning; first of all the psychological conception must be absolutely sound, and the material findings must be without a shadow of criticism, but Crile with a rather naive attitude towards the histology of the nerve cell, assumes that the nerve cell is the unit and at the same time the measure of the functional activity of the nervous system. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe must be aware that there is a very serious doubt, as yet altogether unsatisfied, as to whether the nerve cell or the neuro-fibral or some other unknown substance may not be the integral psychological unit of activity. Until this primary question is nearer solution than it is to-day, no deduction in respect to the effect of various agencies as measured by the appearance of the nerve cell can be admitted. All proofs of such facts that are based upon one of the most uncertain of histological technical methods, the Nissl stain, form certainly a feeble foundation to base so large a conception upon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCrile assumes that all emotions are primary and purposeful and are for that reason teleological as well for the individual as for the race. That the emotions are not all so simple as this must be apparent to the author, for it is assumed that he is surely aware that many psychologists are of the opinion that emotions are products of muscular activities or can be caused by them, and not causes of them, and further that automatically conditioned emotions probably exist, and further that these serve no purpose either to the individual or the race. It is probably known to him likewise that fear, pain, sorrow, and various other emotional reactions can be manifested by purely automatically conducted impulses originating in stimuli about the basal ganglia with no external contact whatever. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis much the publisher suggests to show, only in a rough way, how far afield Crile has permitted his surgical imagination to lead him. To explain so crude an exposition of a psychological puzzle, he has resource to the cruder proof—the appearance of the nerve cell stained by a most crude histological method, one that abounds in artifacts, and omits from his consideration of histological proof all other structures in the nervous system itself.\u003cbr\u003eA word should be added concerning the numerous illustrations scattered throughout the volume, especially pictures of exhausted athletes, grinning and crying children, groups of children into whose facial reactions Crile would have us read various emotional expressions. Let the reader try what the publisher himself attempted, that is, cover the descriptions at the bottom of the pictures and see if anything like Crile wants one to see, can be arrived at by looking at these various photographs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne wonders also at Crile's terminology—anger, pain, exhaustion are all regarded apparently as analogous states; that is, states of emotional purpose.","brand":"OGB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47066857373936,"sku":"2940016196473","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940016196473_p0.jpg?v=1763630574","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016196473","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}