For a theory of emotions

The self and free will operate at the level of "thought". Somehow cognition enables not only the "linguistic" form of consciousness, which is thought, but also the self-reflection and the initiative that uniquely characterize thought.

The question, from an almost evolutionary viewpoint, is whether thoughts are simply an evolution of emotions: language enabled us to control emotion and to develop something equivalent to emotion but more subtle. Or whether they are two different aspects, and they always were different.

Free will is an important variable in this equation. There is no doubt that the ability to decide what I do has to play a key role in a definition of thought. But note that free will is almost the opposite of emotions: emotions are beyond "our" control.

The machinery of "mind", or "cognition" (memory, learning, reasoning, language), is at the service of our primary inner life: thoughts and emotions (and even dreams). The machinery of "mind" is really a mediator between our primary inner life and our bodily life. I can remember an event, and then feel an emotion or think about that event. Vice versa, I may be thinking of something and recall an event. My inner life needs a physical support to be stored and retrieved. My current inner life needs a physical support to communicate with my previous inner life. The time dimension of thinking is implemented in the physical support. That physical support is the brain.

A similar relationship applies to thought and consciousness. There is one skill, capability, that brains have, and there is the feeling associated to it. By "thought" we normally mean the capability of thinking, of putting memories and words and images together. By "consciousness" we really mean (among other things) the feelings associated with thinking. Thought is therefore also a "mediator": between consciousness and the brain.

Do emotions need a brain to occur? Presumably they don't need a brain as complex as ours. I feel pain in my foot. I feel anguish in my heart. There really isn't any need for an additional piece of body. We assume that the brain is the place where emotions communicate with the "I", and that would explain why emotions also need a brain.

Sensations, feelings and emotions are confusing terms that are often applied to the same things. Some emotions are localized and some emotions are not localized. The pain in my foot is localized, but my fear of death, my career ambitions and my desire of learning are not localized. Most emotions correspond to bodily needs, but some correspond to more abstract entities that have to do with thought itself. You need to be a thinking subject to desire to learn. Career ambitions refer to a vast complex system of values that has been built with thought. Even my fear of death is really a fear of "inner" death, not of bodily death, and therefore refers again to thought.