from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: What makes a person strong?

Dear Friends,

This Sunday we are discussing: What makes a person strong?

On this occasion I only developed a few ideas and was not able to write
a full essay; but this is a topic we have skirted around many times.

We recently discussed "Resilience vs Resistance*" so what is the
difference between this topic and our topic "What makes a person strong?"

When we speak of a strong person we usually mean emotionally or mentally
strong person. And although we might argue that these are distinctive
concepts we must also agree that there is a lot of overlap. At the very
least to be emotionally strong we also need to be in mental control of
our emotions and instincts.

Emotional strength usually means keeping calm and cool under some
adverse conditions, or rather perceived adverse conditions. Thus leading
one to act intelligently rather than to react to the perceived threat.

Like most of these cases the attribution of strength of a person is done
by others. This does not mean that one cannot describe one's self as
being strong. Thus someone may legitimately speak of being strong; this
might be said and also useful to protect others under difficult
circumstances or to persuade them to be confident in the circumstance.
We might also want to describe ourselves as strong to create a sense of
trust in strangers, for example employers, who expect us to be strong
and in control of our emotions.

From a language perspective, being a strong person means a description
more to convey a sense of trust and reliability than anything else. When
others describe us as a strong person this would certainly be a real
testimonial of our character.

This leaves us with the emotional side of the expression. By definition
an emotionally strong person must be in control of their emotions and
how they express them. But this definition would require further
development since an emotionally strong person might be strong at the
expense of empathy and concern of others. Surely being a strong person
does not mean they are also a cold and uncaring person?

Moreover, being an emotionally strong person does not necessarily imply
that this person can control their emotions under all circumstances. But
this is a relevant question: can someone be fully in control of their
emotions at all times and under all circumstance? Are their instances
when the emotional instinct kicks in thus thwarting any effort to
control one's emotions? In which case as rational beings do we a have an
empirical trigger to react emotionally despite our propensity to prefer
to be rational agents?

Finally, whilst we can train ourselves to develop a strong character
both emotionally and mentally, does a strong character also mean we are
also intelligent?

(*link http://preview.tinyurl.com/Resilience-vs-Resistance)

Best Lawrence


Best Lawrence

tel: 606081813
philomadrid@gmail.com
Blog: http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/
MeetUp https://www.meetup.com/PhiloMadrid-philosophy-group/

PhiloMadrid Meeting
Meet 6:30pm
Centro Segoviano
Alburquerque, 14
28010 Madrid
914457935
Metro: Bilbao
-----------Ignacio------------
Open Tertulia in English every
Thursdays at Triskel in c/San Vicente Ferrer 3.
Time: from 19:30 to 21h
http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/
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from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: What makes a person
strong?