Emotions and Feelings: Their Importance for Scientific Cognition
This paper reflects one of the main tendencies in modern epistemology, i.e. the disclosing of the human dimension of scientific cognition. Science in classical epistemology acted as a purely rational undertaking. Scientists were supposed to be dispassionate researchers. Going beyond these traditional ideas, we show that feelings and emotional reactions are an integral part of scientific practice. They help both in the initiation and justification of scientific research. We pay special attention to the images and metaphors used in scientific language and show that they can reflect not only the individual and personal characteristics (creative imagination and intuition) of the subject of cognition, but also the features of their evolutionary and social history. The paper thus provides a picture of scientific and educational practice, which is deeply rooted in the life-world and consciousness of its creator – man.