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Can we improve our wellbeing by using logic?

Yes, but does that help us in navigating our emotions and behavior? It has been proven that our emotion does affect our thinking (Jung et al., 2014; Blanchette, 2006). In a state of normal emotion, we excel in making rational decisions, but when we are either in a negative or positive emotional state, somehow our logical thinking shifts, in a bad way. But it is somewhat established to say that when we’re emotional, we throw logic away and act irrationally. So, can logical thinking help the way we feel and exert emotion (thus starting a positive loop for a happier life)?


The psychologists Albert Ellis and Robert Harper thought so. Ellis and Harper (1961) purported that most of our emotional and behavioral hurdles happen because of irrational thinking. The term rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is coined by Ellis in an attempt to explain the relationship between cognitive thinking, emotion, and behavior (Rahman, 2017: 13), where the therapist helps clients change their views and beliefs from irrational to rational, helping to change attitudes, ways of thinking, and wrong perceptions (Putri et al., 2019: 86).


Of course, this short blog will not be able to cover the whole body of knowledge with regards to REBT, but in short, and I believe, that rational thinking might offer a solution to our emotional and behavioral distress, at least, for the most part.


According to Corey (2013), the objectives of REBT are to achieve general goals and basic objectives, where the general goal is to teach clients on how to separate behavior evaluation from self-evaluation, while the basic objective is to teach clients to change emotional dysfunction into good and healthy behavior. In essence, this theory believes in the idea that if we were able to logically organize our thinking (e.g. knowing when and when not to be angry, when to be stoic, etc,), we will live a happier life.


This theory is later further developed in the branch of Philosophy by my mentor Elliot D. Cohen, naming it logic-based therapy (LBT). Cohen (2016) dwells deeply on the idea that philosophical insights can provide not only wisdom but practical solution for our daily life by using logical inferences. Taking note of Marcus Aurelius, Aristotles, Nitzsche, and other prominent thinkers might offer solutions for our metaphysical wellbeing. LBT is rooted in the idea that Damasio (2005) used to define primary and secondary emotions.


The former emotions, he maintains, are prewired responses to environmental stimuli, while the latter involves a “mental evaluative process” performed on the neocortex of the human brain (Cohen, 2016: 5). Cohen stated that our ability to make an evaluative decision with regards to certain stimuli can help us in navigating out emotion and behavior, which, in hindsight, is rooted in the idea that through logically knowing what we ought to be emotive about, proper healthy respond emotional and behavioral response can be exerted.


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