We need technical words for virtues and emotions because they are the cardinal directions in our social landscape. Once upon a time, Aristotle and Spinoza tried to give shape to the virtues and emotions, but we have more clarity now.
I don't just mean something like the excellent Twelve Virtues of Rationality. The point is that human behavior can be understood as a system in which virtues and emotions are certain patterns or modes of behavior that accomplish an end.
Imagine then, that you are not a person as such, but the collective organization – an economy, a society, a republic – of atoms, organelles, cells, tissues, etc. As an an agent, you are tasked with determining how to OODA (orient, observe, decide, and act).
Affective neuroscience gives 7 systems: SEEKING, RAGE, FEAR, LUST, CARE, GRIEF, PLAY. The Big Five Theory focuses on traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism with metastates stability (Ludonomy) and plasticity (Sprachspiel). Each of these has a cybernetic function as well.1
| Trait | Function |
|---|---|
| Extraversion | Exploration and engagement with rewards |
| Neuroticism | Defensive responses to uncertainty, threat, and punishment |
| Openness/Intellect | Cognitive exploration and engagement with information |
| Conscientiousness | Protection of non-immediate or abstract goals and strategies from disruption |
| Agreeableness | Altruism and cooperation; coordination of goals, interpretations, and strategies with those of others |
It's also important to account for Transformative Experience Private or Broken Links
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. Art, for example, is a channel/medium by which we can engender transformative experiences in the self-machine. And perhaps there is a way of looking at life as a sequences of such transformations.
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Colin G. DeYoung, Cybernetic Big Five Theory ↩