5 philosophers on anger - Delaney Thull

Explore different philosophers’ ideas about anger and dig into their theories on how we should handle this complicated emotion.

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Anger is a complicated emotion. It can feel reasonable and righteous or impulsive and uncontrollable. Anger can be an important part of letting us know when something immoral is happening, but finding the right response to those psychological alarm bells can be tricky. So, is it ever right to be angry? And if so, when? Delaney Thull takes a philosophical look at this powerful emotion.

Lesson by Delaney Thull, directed by Cara Watson.

This video made possible in collaboration with the Parr Center for Ethics

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[robertsimon]

Anger is something everyone should release during the right moment. Controlling anger isn't bottling it up, it's using it correctly.

[SciMinute]

Every emotion serves a purpose, and anger, when channeled constructively, can be a powerful force for positive change. It’s crucial to recognize its role in addressing injustices, rather than letting it lead to harmful actions towards others or objects..!

[Sunflowersarepretty]

Every emotion is there for a reason. And anger has its own place. Getting angry over something unjust, unfair or witnessing a wrong doing and then doing something to address the issue would be anger propelling you to do what was needed to. On the hand hurting people or animals or smashing objects when angry 😐😐

[Digidragon]

Anger is a double-edged sword to be blunt. . . The virtue to counter; it is patience!

[thesecret]

According to Bhagavad Gita, anger towards social injustice is morally right. But anger hurled towards others due to egotistical reasons is unethical.

[aliengeo]

My therapy experience is that all emotions are justified for all reasons—emotions are not moral entities. Actions can be moral or immoral, and actions can certainly be caused by emotions, but the emotions themselves are just descriptors of an internal state. It would be like asking if having the hiccups is ever justified.

[Not____Applicable]

Anger can always be channeled into something greater than just rage or baseless violence. We need to practice self control and live by tenets we can feel proud of standing on. Avoiding or trying to ignore an emotion only subsides the problem for it to manifest in ways we wouldn’t want or couldn’t control. You must confront all your emotions to live freely. Anger will control you if you do not learn to control it.

[thaikeaugusto]

PhD psychologist Marshall Rosenberg, creator of non-violent communication, teaches that anger's an emotion triggered by judgment. It's like a desire to punish for that we've judged wrong. In his work, that's always bad, since we're not to judge, but seek empathy and communicate our needs so that the person who's making us angry can have the opportunity to care for us, and grow in the process.

As a clinical psychologist myself I don't know yet if I agree fully with him, but I do know that, in my experience, my anger is frequently tied to judgments I make and, being so, shows me I've been judging a person or situation by my needs lens, not empathetically...

Just adding to the video...

Great work as always, TED.

[ardhraaneesh]

When you know absolutely well that anger won't change anything about the situation but you are helpless.

[benitoharrycollmann]

Very insightful video, Ted-Ed. This brings to mind a piece of wisdom spoken by the great stoic Epictetus; "Any person capable of angering you becomes your master;
he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him."

[tshepormolekwa]

It's a case by case issue that one must learn to master and know how to handle ❤

[kmdash]

I think the Dalai Lama once said anger can be compassionate, and I would say that kind of anger would be born out of injustice.
The philosopher Marshall Rosenberg, however, believed anger is a signal you don't understand what your needs are.
Shantideva, likely, was referring to a specific type of anger born from arrogance, as Buddhists personified anger and syncretzed it with the asuras from vedic traditions.
There is even a Ted talk about how anger can be like gasoline, dangerous when sprayed everywhere but powerful in an engine.

All this is to say there seems to be different kinds of anger: anger born from arrogance, anger born from injustice, and anger born from ignorance of ones needs. Of these three, it seems like anger born from injustice is morally good. Sometimes it can be the most compassionate response. It can help us keep fighting for justice. It's very hard to be angry and tired at the same time. However, we can see how it can quickly devolve into immoral types of anger.

[aryandixit]

Moral of the story: Anger is necessary but our goal should be that we control our anger and not vice-versa.

[goiltmb]

I commented this on other video in this channel but i'd like to say one more time~ knowing how to control your emotion is crucial in life, and i'd like to say that only experience is the answer~

[_Smarf_]

I have serious bipolar and anger / rage is a part of my day-to-day life. Sometimes anger is something you need professional help for and medication and therapy are the only answers. Philosophies like stoicism and taoism help but are not a solution on their own. If you feel like the anger you experience may be abnormal, I highly recommend seeking out your local mental health services. A lot of them work on a sliding scale based on income. Good luck to everyone out there. ✌

[joshuaharmon]

Justified: Having or shown to have a just, right, OR reasonable basis.

Anger is justified whenever it is reasonable, according to Merriam-Webster

[pulvprv]

I do like the Confucian notion of anger. Righteousness is a moral emotion that arise from anger, while the severity of the anger might be different, the emotional impetus to act righteous is there. One feel anger when people act contrary to propriety, and the anger is thus justified in that it tries to fix what is in essence a break in relation to restore propriety. In other word anger become righteous when it is aimed at restoring relation and propriety. Even if we may fail to act in accordance with righteousness, the seed is at least there. But we can be sure to act in accordance with what is righteous by following our nature or propriety. Nature and propriety being linked, but the question is what makes acts righteous. Is it the clan or local community that determines what is right, or is it universal based on our nature?

For example for Mencius to act in accordance to ones nature is to be virtuous, because our nature is good, meaning it has the sprouts of virtues like humanness and righteousness. Emotions and feelings being manifestations of such virtues, like propriety which arise out of human nature.
Xunzi on the other hand found found that we can only be virtuous by acting in accordance with propriety, which develops in the local community over generations.

[thedogfather]

It’s not about morality. It’s about cause and effect, along with the choices you make throughout the process.

[abhishekbade]

Believe in letting go and miracles would happen. But sometimes you need to let it out or it will be pushy on yourselves and others around you. If it is not discussed with root cause so talking with calmed mindset and normal pitch is necessarily essential manytimes

[devops]

"Illegally polluting water supply..." I laughed way too hard at this line :D
How did we end up like this? :(