The Requirement of Emotion for Survival
I have thought about emotion and existence, and although it may be obvious but I believe that the main reasons for emotions to exist is to make sure us humans survive as a species.
Take the example of fear. Without fear, we would probably have died out as a species as we would not take precautions around dangerous stimulus. Despite the fact you might be belittled as a coward, fear is what keeps you alive.
However, because we do experience fear, we can judge whether to fight the oncoming threat or to flee and save ourselves as we have a natural fight or flight response.
The Reason We Dominate The Earth
We have feelings to prolong life. We need emotions to survive. Without emotions, humans would not be as successful as we are today; we either would be extinct or be living in the shadow of a more intelligent species which have developed feelings. I wonder what a world like that would even be like.
We may also have developed emotions to form a civilised society. Without love, fear or a sense of pride, coordinating and constructing communities and civilisation would be very difficult. Despite the fact we may see communities and societies struggling to mix the only border are the people that is preventing us from integrating and forming a more tight knit world.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Model
Marsha Linehan, an American psychologist, developed the DBT (dialectical behavioural therapy) model. In this model, emotions are said to serve three main purposes. These purposes are communication, motivation and self-validation. It seems like emotions may mean more than just survival.
These purposes are best seen from an evolutionary viewpoint. Fear, or any emotion that drives you to avoid something such as sadness or anger, can influence one to alter their environment to be more conducive to thriving. This could be seen as how if one person is joyful and glee, it is infectious and it may help others to be in a better mood.
To add on to the first two reasons, it is since humans are social animals. If you physically display emotions of sadness, it is an unspoken communication which tells others that you are in need of assistance.